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Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan says talks will be held on ‘amazing’ £31m financial goldmine

Fenway Sports Group (FSG) have their critics in the world of football, but what the Boston-based investment company have achieved at Liverpool from a financial perspective is stunning.

As well as delivering every trophy under Jurgen Klopp – and with his successor, Arne Slot, enjoying a magnificent start to life at Anfield – FSG have also transformed the club as a business.

After taking over Liverpool for £300m in 2010, John Henry and his peers in the FSG boardroom have overseen an enormous spike in reven🦋ue and, generally, turned the club into a profitable venture.

Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

Iဣn 2010-11, Liverpool posted a loss of £49m and turnover of £184m.

Fast forward to 2024 and the Merseysiders have posted an average annual profitܫ of £15m over the last decade and their revenue at the last count was £594m.

Some supporters have crꦇiticised FSG’s approach to player recruitment and ret♓ention, which has sometimes been characterised as overly conservative.

But the same accusation cannot be levelled at their appro💙ach to infrastructure at Anfield and the training complex in Kirby.

FSG have spent hundreds of millions to improve the facilities and ultimately f💜uture-proof the 👍club financially.

That has been crucial in an era when several of Liverpool’s direct rivals in the Premier League have spent heavily to improve their ow💯n facilities.

And one of the club’s most recent initiatives in this department could be set to reach new heights very soon, accordi♋ng to CEO Billy Hogan.

Liverpool to have ‘conversations’ about money-spinning Anfield plan

Perhaps the biggest superstar to grace Anfield in recent years – more so than Mohamed Salah or Virgil van Dijk – is Taylor Swift.

The American singer played three sold out shows at the stadium last 💛summer as part of a tour which grossed almost £1bn in total.

The three shows at Anfield are believed to have b♊een worth £10m to Liverpool, minus the costs associated with putting on events of that sca𒆙le.

Those three dates all came in Ju🦩ne. Next June, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel and Dua Lipa will also pla൩y Anfield.

Whether for licensing or logistical reasons, the club i✅s yet to host any non-football events in July.

But speaking to ma🔯gazine, Billy Hogan revealed that talks were set to take place to perhaps change th💖at.

“We think it is amazing that we can bring this calibre of artists to the city,” he said.

“The more events we can host, the better for us anecdotally, but our priority is obviously to play football matches, so our calendar is extremely tight.

“Maybe we can put on events in early July in the future. We will have conversations about that, but the concerts have been an enormous success, all made possible by the progress we have made.”

The value of Anfield to Liverpool and Arne Slot’s transfer budget

Unlike the owners of some Premier League clubs, FSG are not typically willing to underwrite h𝐆uge losses in order to bankroll lavis🤪h transfer sprees.

Instead, 🧔any money that Arne ꧒Slot and sporting director Richard Hughes spend must first be earned.

That means that Anfield’s ability to generate north of £100m per sea♋son in matchday income alone is a hꦫuge step forward for the club.

For context🃏, the same 🦩income stream was around £50m a decade ago.

But the commercial utility of the stadium is also a massive plus, with Liverpool able to use their improved facilities 🗹as a selling point in negotiations with potential sponsors.

Photo by Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images
Photo by Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images

This will be one factor behind Liverpool’s new deal with Adidas, which is set to commence next season and could generate £450m for the club over 💞five seasons.

If the club are successful in engineering a plan to host even more events at Anfield in the coming years, they could be sitting on yet another goldmine.ꦗ