Formula One owners Liberty Media are eyeing Premier League purchase to enter the football field: Reports
Following great success with F1, Liberty Media turn their attention to the Premier League in football.
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A few decades ago, the Formula One franchise was not a household name amongst the common people like it is now. The general notion was that F1 is only a sport for the aristocrats of Europe, but it all began to evolve with the ownership of the league changing hands from Bernie Ecclestone to the American investing group Liberty Media. They made sure to flaunt the image of F1 to the world, and now the pinnacle of motorsports is a worldwide phenomenon.
Still riding on the high from their ultra-successful F1 venture, Liberty Media are looking to proceed to other projects. Football is one of the biggest sports in the world, and it has always attracted high-profile investors with huge capital. There are five billion football fans around the world, with Latin America, the Middle East and Africa representing the largest fan bases. These fans will very often support their national team, their local club, a “world” club, and sometimes even a particular player.
This time, Liberty Media are allegedly pondering over pooling funds into the English Premier League clubs to enter the field of football. Clubs like Tottenham, Liverpool, and Manchester are in search for investor for some cash injection into their activities. According to the reports, Liberty Media are interested in acquiring shares of those teams.
Liberty Media’s profits from F1 have been astronomical. The American-based company paid Bernie Ecclestone £3.3 billion to acquire F1 in 2017, and since then, the sport’s reputed $17.1 billion market value has increased tremendously.
In addition to owning F1, Liberty Media also owns Meyer Shank Racing, which competes in American series including IndyCar and IMSA, and the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball. And it looks like their next sporting endeavor would include a Premier League team in English football.
English football is followed by hundreds millions of fans, with most of them betting on results of matches that happen almost throughout the year. The volume of online betting means gambling and casino platforms have also incorporated sports betting into their offerings, and modern-day online live dealer casino games are often promoted on sports betting sites and use betting on football as a funnel to attract more customers.
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Liberty is on its way to the English Football
While all is going on, United has been engaged in a lengthy takeover saga since February with no obvious sign that a deal is about to be reached. Greg Maffei, CEO of Liberty Media, has acknowledged that the company has looked into all investment options in the Premier League, indicating that the ideal opportunity hasn’t yet been offered up.
“I would dispute buying on the cheap. We like to buy for a fair price then hopefully build value,” Maffei told.
“So look, a couple of thoughts. Credit to the teams at Formula 1 and the Braves because,”
The CEO believes they can build on their success story with F1 and apply a similar philosophy in helping Premier League teams to succeed. He used the Atlanta Braves as an example, adding: “I believe we have the best management team in baseball creating both a great on-field product at a reasonable price with a long-term future and young players who are well set up on contracts. But also the [front house] team there – Derek Schiller, Mike Plant and Terry McGuirk the CEO have done a great job on the business side and built Truist Park and around that.”
“The demonstrated success of Formula One, we now have – credit them – a reputation sports and others we have talked to, we can replicate that. You mention the Premier League teams; there isn’t an asset we haven’t looked at. That doesn’t mean we’ve been ready to buy them all but we look at everything because we do think sports in general is attractive, we do think there are upsides and do think those things that management teams have taught up can help apply perhaps in other sports situations,” he added.
With several English Clubs under financial needs, it would not be problematic for Liberty Media to find a suitable club to start their footballing chapter. With top premier league teams with the likes of Liverpool FC going at a valuation of 6+ billion pounds after the recent sale of Chelsea FC which was bought by American Billionaire Todd Boehly for a whopping $5.6 billion.
It’s a no-brainer for different institutions to grab a minor part of a premier league club as it has been proven from time to time that it is a smart deal.
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Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)