Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group remain committed to long-term goals during ownership across their growing portfolio of sports teams.
Having purchased the Boston Red Sox in 2002, Liverpool eight years later and, most recently, the Pittsburgh Penguins NHL ice hockey team in November of 2021, FSG have grown the value of their overall sporting empire to more than $10bn, making them the third biggest sports ownership group in the world.
FSG took over the Red Sox when they hadn't won a baseball World Series for 86 years, delivering one two years after buying the team. Since then they have won three more, but struggles on the field this season have seen FSG top brass come in for criticism from some Red Sox fans, a feeling that has been mirrored across the Atlantic at Anfield.
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Liverpool, winners of the Champions League in 2019 and the Premier League in 2020, came within a whisker of the perfect season last year, winning both the FA Cup and League Cup but losing out in the final of the Champions League and being just 15 minutes away from claiming the Premier League crown before a late rally by Manchester City against Aston Villa on the final day.
This season has been far more challenging, the latest setback being a 1-0 loss at struggling Nottingham Forest on Saturday, and as injuries pile up and boss Jurgen Klopp has less and less to choose from in terms of options, the perceived lack of investment in the first team in recent transfer windows has become a bone of contention once again among some Reds fans.
But while challenges are faced at present on both sides of the pond the plan remains for long-term ownership, with more teams likely to be added in the next two to three years, an NBA the number one target.
Sam Kennedy, president of the Boston Red Sox, CEO of both Fenway Sports Management and Fenway Sports Group real estate, and an FSG partner, is tasked with the growth of the real estate side of the operation across FSG's teams, and with more work planned for Anfield beyond the completion of the Anfield Road End, which is scheduled to be finished in time for next season, there is reaffirmed commitment to long-term ownership.
Speaking at the Sportico Invest in Sports conference in New York on Wednesday, where the ECHO were in attendance, Kennedy said: "We are in a new world, trying to figure out what is going to happen three of four years from now. If anybody can tell you they are lying.
"The good news is that we are in this for the long haul. Our investment came together in 2001 and in 2002 we closed (on a deal to purchase the Boston Red Sox). Since then we have added assets, franchises and real estate to the porfolio.
"We are inbuilt and invest for the long haul. Our time horizon is forever, especially when it comes to our real estate activity. We are taking a very long view and we don't have the typical expectations around quarterly returns or annual returns because we are in it for so long. It is a two-pronged strategy.
"Yes, we need a good economic idea on the real estate that we are developing but we also have to make sure that is additive to the fan experience to Fenway Park, Anfield and PPG (Pittsburgh Penguins' home arena)."
FSG have little to no interest in parting company with any of their teams, not least their most valuable in the portfolio, Liverpool.
Instead the plan is to continue to grow the value of the teams, something which is intrinsically linked to their ability to put a compelling product on the field year after year that can challenge for the biggest honours. Part of that plan involves the expansion of real estate opportunities, as has been seen in and around Fenway Park, most recently with the opening of a new 5,000 seater music theatre adjacent to the Red Sox stadium.
At Anfield the Main Stand development of 2016 and the current work on the Anfield Road End will see the stadium over 60,000 in capacity and likely to top matchday revenues of £100m per season in the coming campaigns, with Kennedy hinting at the next steps.
"We'll see what ancillary development might be possible," Kennedy said.
"As residential as Fenway is, Fenway is zoned for entertainment, hospitality, retail and other types of activities. Anfield is a residential neighbourhood so we have to be mindful of that and respectful of that. You'll probably see us focus more inside than outside in the future."
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