Having acquired the Pittsburgh Penguins NHL ice hockey team at the end of November, Fenway Sports Group are expected to continue their growth in 2022.
Liverpool owners FSG added the Penguins to their sporting empire, with the $900m (£667m) deal seeing the NHL team join the Reds, the Boston Red Sox baseball team and the RFK Racing NASCAR team as their sporting assets, as well as other FSG businesses including the NESN sports cable TV network, Fenway Sports Group Real Estate and Fenway Sports Management.
The Penguins deal saw FSG's overall value reach a record high of of $9.8bn (£7.2bn) according to Forbes, with the magazine's 2022 list of the most valuable sporting empires in the world placing them at number three.
Compared to the 2021 list, FSG have seen a $3.2bn (£2.3bn) rise in the value of their empire. That represents a rise of 48 per cent year-on-year.
The injection of $750m worth of capital from RedBird Capital Partners in March of last year in exchange for 11 per cent of the FSG business also aided the valuation, and some of that capital has already been put to work with the Penguins deal and regeneration projects in Boston and Liverpool with the Anfield Road End work, enabling FSG to forge ahead despite the impact of the pandemic on finances.
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And moving into 2022, FSG and Liverpool chairman Tom Werner has hinted at what is to come with their next sporting purchase, and how FSG partner and basketball icon LeBron James could play a key role.
James, who converted his two per cent investment in Liverpool from 2011 into one per cent of FSG when the RedBird deal was finalised last year, has strengthened his ties with the Liverpool owners, who invested in his and Maverick Carter's SpringHill Entertainment business along with RedBird and Reds kit suppliers Nike. Carter has also become an FSG partner in the last 12 months, as has James and Carter's business manager Paul Wachter, a long-time friend of Werner.
And with James a bona fide NBA legend who continues to perform at an elite level on the court at 37 with the Los Angeles Lakers, a purchase of an NBA franchise to add to the portfolio is something that could well be next on the agenda.
Speaking to Forbes' Sports Money show, Werner said: "(Owning an NBA team) is certainly something that we would look at. We don't have a secret piece of paper that says 'let's go acquire an NBA team'.
"LeBron James has made no secret that at some point he would like to be involved in ownership and he is a wonderful partner, so we'll see how that goes."
The Penguins deal saw FSG acquire a team that was successful on the ice and that also delivered financially despite their relatively small market position when compared to markets that exist in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
But in the Penguins, Werner says that FSG saw something that they saw in both Liverpool and the Red Sox.
"Like Liverpool and like the Red Sox, the Penguins have a great history," said Werner.
"They've had a very, very successful sell-out streak which did end this year but I think that had something to do with Covid.
"Their market size is obviously dwarfed by other markets like New York and Los Angeles, but their (television) ratings in the market are the best in the NHL, so they have got a very loyal and smart fan base.
"We like the trajectory of the NHL. They have got a very good new media deal with ESPN and Turner (Sports). The content is very fast paced, so there is a lot to like about it and we paid a very fair price.
"We acquired Liverpool out of bankruptcy, so this is not that situation."
FSG are currently redeveloping real estate that surrounds Fenway Park Stadium in Boston, and the deal struck with the Penguins affords the Liverpool owners the rights to redevelop the 28-acre site at the Penguins' old Civic Arena, having left there in 2010 to take up residence at the PPG Paints Arena.
"The Penguins have an option to develop in a substantial way," explained Werner.
"Our investment philosophy as a private company means that we don't need to give dividends back to our partners. Our feeling is to grow these assets to so that they are worth more in the future than they are today.
"We were probably a little bit late in investing in real estate around Fenway Park. When we came in there was a lot of debate about whether new ownership should leave Fenway Park and build a new stadium somewhere near the sea port. We should have bought up some parcels around Fenway as the neighbourhood has exploded.
"It is a way of diversifying and a way of creating more value for our investors."
