Liverpool principal owner John Henry believes the continued growth of Fenway Sports Group is what will be able to sustain success for their teams at the very top.
Under the ownership of FSG since 2010, the Reds have managed to return to the summit of English football, winning their first league title in 30 years in 2020 as well as lifting the Champions League in 2019. They have managed to achieve success by spending less their many of their rivals and through being able to support their ambitions through growing revenues. Then, of course, they have managed to hire the right people in the right positions, Jurgen Klopp the most perfect example of that.
FSG will make it 20 years in charge of the Boston Red Sox this year, the team that began it all for Henry and Tom Werner after they founded FSG, which was then known as New England Sports Ventures. The same levers that were pulled to deliver success to Liverpool were used in Boston, with the ownership banishing an 86-year World Series hoodoo for the Red Sox when they delivered the 2004 title. Since then they have been crowned baseball's kings on three other occasions; 2007, 2013 and 2018.
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The FSG that exists in 2022 has many of the same pieces in place that it did in 2002, but a name change and focus on business success through accretion has helped them become the third largest sporting empire in world sport, with a value just shy of $10bn, only bettered by the Arsenal-owning Kroenke Group in second place and Formula One owners Liberty Media.
As well as Liverpool and the Red Sox there is also the NASCAR team RFK Racing as part of the stable, as well as the recently acquired Pittsburgh Penguins NHL team. Add to that businesses such as Fenway Sports Management, Fenway Sports Group Real Estate, the NESN TV network and investments into businesses such as basketball icon LeBron James' SpringHill Entertainment company and the growth of the business is clear.
FSG have been good at adding businesses that add value to their teams. By owning NESN they have been rights holders of Red Sox TV coverage in their region, and through growing their relationship with James, who converted his two per cent in Liverpool to one per cent of FSG last year, they have been able to leverage his pull and global appeal in their link up with Nike, the firm where James has a $1bn lifetime contract.
As Liverpool chase down an unprecedented quadruple, quite what happens when Klopp decides to end his time at Anfield raises question marks over whether the current levels of success can be sustained. But Henry believes that success has been achieved for its teams through the growth of FSG, and with the empire set to enter into what is being coined in Boston as 'FSG 3.0', aided by the arrival of business building investors such as RedBird Capital Partners at the table, with the private equity firm who have a keen interest in analytics - like Henry - buying an 11 per cent stake in FSG last year for $750m, FSG's growth shows not signs of abating, only accelerating.
In an interview with the Athletic, Henry said: "In order to sustain success in these highly competitive days, you have to grow information, strategies, revenues and access to talent.
"Our enterprises make sense for each other in ways that I never would have originally thought. What they call 'sports platforms' like ours encompass media, real estate and finance with global reach and opportunities but still remain primarily locally based enterprises that have important community responsibilities. Growing the FSG family has strengthened each of our clubs competitively over the last two decades with an increasing amount of learning and cross-pollination that goes on within our various enterprises."
FSG aren't interested in selling Liverpool, with the Reds being the most valuable team in their empire with a valuation of around £3bn. The Reds owners, who are targeting growth through further team purchases, potentially with an NBA expansion franchise in Las Vegas or Seattle and more football teams, possibly in South America, are also committed to keeping the Red Sox a core part of what they do.
"I moved to Boston intending to live here for the rest of my life," Henry said.
"I wanted to work and live in an area where baseball mattered, so I told my partners they had better be ready to own the team for a very, very long time. Every few years I read that the team is for sale, but our actual internal conversations always centre on the future. We are squarely focused on what we can improve on and off the field. The challenges that need tackling have only grown."
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