Liverpool’s owners, Fenway Sports Group (FSG) are well known for their seismic investments in the sporting world.
Alongside owning the fourth most valuable football team in the world, FSG also own Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Boston Red Sox and the National Hockey League’s (NHL) Pittsburgh Penguins, amongst other sports assets.
FSG were one of the first is a now-long list of American owners of Premier League teams, with each purchase seemingly growing in value.
As part of building their own liquidity, FSG received an investment from Arctos Sports Partners, a private equity fund based out of Dallas, Texas, back in 2020.
Arctos has subsequently increased its investments to include minority stakes in MLB teams Houston Astros, San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres, NHL teams New Jersey Devils and Minnesota Wild, National Basketball Association teams the Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings and Utah Jazz, according to their own website.
It also stayed within the European football space, investing in both French giants PSG and Italian side Atalanta, as well as in Aston Martin Formula One.
Liverpool owner’s NFL investment could be lucrative for Reds
And now Arctos have become one of the first private equity groups to invest in a National Football League (NFL) franchise, becoming a minority owner of the Buffalo Bills, according to the Financial Times.
This followed NFL rule changes back in August that finally allowed private equity investment in up to 10% worth of individual teams. This comes from a mass inflation of NFL franchise value – Forbes value the Bills at $4.2bn, putting them 30th on the NFL’s valuation list.
Forbes value Liverpool, for comparison, at $5.37bn. This makes the Reds the fourth most valuable football team in the entire world.
A 10% investment in the Bills would represent a $420m investment, equivalent to nearly £333m.
The private equity group’s branching out into the lucrative NFL world could have serious ramifications for their current investments.
The Bills currently sit second in their conference, having recently defeated the two-time defending Super Bowl winners Kansas City Chiefs, and have high hopes of securing their first ever Super Bowl victory this season.
If this were to occur, their valuation would surely rise, allowing extra liquidity for Arctos to re-invest in their sports investments.
As a result, Liverpool could be set for a windfall at a time when the salaries of Mo Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk – amongst others – are at an all-important juncture.
