Despite a pandemic and a 99-day lockout where players and owners were at odds over Major League Baseball's collective bargaining agreement, Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group have seen their Boston Red Sox team continue to grow in value.
Year on year, according to analysis from Forbes magazine that measured enterprise value (which includes equity and net debt), the Red Sox have seen their value grow 13 per cent, from $3.46bn in 2021 to $3.9bn (£2.96m). That is a rise of around $440m (£333m) that keeps Boston at third on the overall list, behind only the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees.
The Red Sox's current value is still shy of what Liverpool are valued in the FSG portfolio, with the Reds above the $4bn mark (£3bn), a figure that has been aided in recent months considerably by the media rights deal that the Premier League has secured both domestically and internationally over the next three years, one that is worth around £10bn.
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Of the top three teams in the MLB list, only the Red Sox recorded an positive operating income (the sum total of a company's profit after subtracting its regular, recurring costs and expenses), standing at $69m, with the Yankees seeing an operating loss of $40m for 2022 and the Dodgers $8m over the same period. The Red Sox operating income was the second highest in the top ten, behind only the Atlanta Braves.
It has long been understood that FSG have no intention of selling off any of their sporting assets. In fact, they are actively seeking to add to their empire to grown revenues, with the Liverpool owners believing that sport has considerable headroom yet with the advent of new technologies and commercial opportunities, something that was behind the decision to give up 11 per cent of the business to RedBird Capital Partners last year for $750m, with RedBird's expertise and insight, as well as their capital, seen as key in driving FSG and their sporting teams on to the next level by exploring new opportunities.
The rise in the Red Sox valuation, despite all the pressures that have been exerted on baseball over the past 12 months will only serve to embolden FSG that their strategy of continuing to grow the value of the teams in their stable has many more miles to go.
