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FSG ’90 per cent’ done recouping Liverpool takeover fee as John Henry seeks £1.4bn-valued deal in US

Adam Williams

Mon 10 February 2025 18:02, UK

Football club values are skyrocketing and Liverpool’s star is rising faster than most. If they sold their prize asset tomorrow, FSG would already be in for a mind-blowing return investment.

Fenway Sports Group𝓀 bought Liverpool for a meagre £300m in 2010, taking on the debt from the previous regime and eventually restoring them to former glories on the pitch and the balance sheets.

In 2025, Liverpool will surpass the £600m mark in annual revenue – a statistic that makes yesterday’s FA Cup fourth round defeat to Plymouth💫, whose turnover is £27m, all the more extraordinary.

🌠When FSG took over, revenue was a measly £184m. Soon enough, they will hope to earn more than that in gate receipts alone, and that is comfortably the smallest of their three main revenue streams.

But the Boston-based owners, who are the darlings of the football finance industry, never stand still. In an ultra-competitive ecosystem in the Premier League and further afield, they cannot afford to.

🃏After almost 15 years at Anfield, John Henry, Tom Werner and their deputies in the FSG boardroom are looking for the next quantum leap in terms of revenue and enterprise value.

The new ꦦChampions League format has been extremely lucrative for Liverpool𝄹, who have banked £84m from UEFA so far this season. That’s more than Real Madrid raked in for going all the way in 2023-24.

🔯However, while the extra revenue was welcomed – and, in fact, actively lobbied for – at Fenway headquarters, it isn’t the kind of seismic financial shift that could temp FSG to sell Liverpool.

For many, the next revenue panacea will come from playing competitive matches abroad at Super Bowl-style events. 🌸Werner, for example, wants to take Liverpool to the United States multiple times per season.

ꦕBut the Premier League’s chief of football Tom Scholes has recently confirmed that they are not currently in talks to stage competitive matches overseas.

Scholes’ stance is likely a response to an anticipated backlash fans, like the one that followed the aborted launch of the Liverpool-backed European Super League in 2021.

John Henry🔯 though that breakaway league would be the game-changer that could deliver record profits.

ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚThat was before the FSG principle owner was forced into an embarrassing U-turn and apology to Liverpool fans in in front of camera.

🐻So the financial breakthrough that the owners want in order to supercharge the club’s enterprise value and, in turn, their profit when they come to sell the club hasn’t materialised yet.

♛Unlike the US outposts of the FSG empire, the Premier League doesn’t run on a closed-shop franchise model where profits are guaranteed regardless of performances on the pitch.

🍎18 months on from selling a minority stake in the club to Dynasty Equity, just how patient are FSG prepared to be before they reach exit value?

𓆏For answers, look at what is happening on the other side of the Atlantic.

• READ MORE: 🉐Liverpool up against Manchester City and Chelsea for young duo likened to Robert Lewandowski and Bernardo Silva

FSG have already raked back nearly all of £300m takeover fee, says football finance expert

💃In 2021, Fenway Sports Group paid around £700m for control of National Hockey League franchise the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Now, they are looking to sell a minority stake, just as they did via the Dynasty Equity deal at Liverpoolℱ in order to realise some of the value of that investment.

ꦫAnd with the Penguins now valued at around £1.4bn according to most appraisals, they are due a chunky payday when the sale eventually goes through.

Speaking exclusively to TBR Football🌼, Liverpool University football finance lecturer Kieran Maguire explains what the Penguins saga tells us about FSG’s plans on Merseyside.

“FSG are forensic and thorough,” said the Price of Football author.

“They will extract value when they think the time is appropriate and the price is right. What they are doing with the Penguins is a perfect example of this.

“What they did with Liverpool is a perfect example too. They effectively have bough 90 per cent of Liverpool and it has cost them nothing.

“They are masters of this game. Whenever I’m doing a case study, I always give FSG as an example of people who are planning two or three years ahead at all times.

“This means they are able to deal with bumps in the road but they are also in a position to maximise their return on investment.

“Ultimately, that is their objective at Liverpool just as it is across their incredibly successful portfolio of teams. They want to make a profit further down the line.”

• READ MORE: ꧒Liverpool owners FSG primed for £260m cash bonanza that easily smashes Mohamed Salah’s Saudi contract offer

How much are Liverpool worth and when might John Henry and FSG sell?

🍨Most estimates place Liverpool’s enterprise value at around the £4bn mark, making them one of the most valuable clubs in football.

🌠However, in the wider ambit of global sport, Liverpool don’t even make the top 25.

🌸Why? Because American franchise sport is still the big-ticket sector. In the NFL or NBA, revenues can be lower but are less volatile, while costs are fixed and profits all but guaranteed.

ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚThe government-backed independent regulator for English football means the Premier League won’t be echoing the closed-shop system any time soon, so FSG will have to look elsewhere for the next big thing.

♌Broadcast revenues are stilly dizzyingly high but are slowing somewhat, while there is only so far that Liverpool can push matchday income without incurring the wrath of fans.

ꦏCommercial income on the other hand has less of a defined ceiling and the Premier League’s biggest clubs know they have huge overseas fanbases willing to buy products and services.

💞Liverpool’s international following is one of the biggest and the consensus in the industry is that revolutions in terms of technology and media can help them better monetise it.

ꦗHow long that strategy will take to reach its peak is anyone’s guess, meaning FSG will not be going anywhere any time soon/