Liverpool finance round-up: FSG-linked £4bn deal, ‘Mr Super League’, and big-name sponsor twist

Mathematically, Liverpool won the Premier League almost a month ago but in reality have been all but confirmed as champions for far longer, allowing owners FSG to concentrate on plans for 2025-26.

This season has been a bit of a freebie for FSG. They have managed to win their second Premier League title on Merseyside despite ending the campaign with a positive transfer net spend.

Simultaneously, Liverpool banked close to £100m in the revamped Champions League format, which Fenway Sports Group were instrumental in lobbying for.

It has also been another season of major commercial growth.

2024-25 is the first full campaign at an increased-capacity Anfield, on which FSG spent over £100m. The stadium is set to deliver matchday income to rival the best in Europe at a time when Premier League clubs are all looking to gain a competitive edge through ticketing revenue.

In terms of sponsorship, Liverpool inked a new deal with Adidas this season too. That kicks in from the beginning of 2025-26 and boasts a bigger base rate than the previous deal with Nike. Deals with Japan Airlines, Husqvarna, Lucozade and Strauss have all been signed as well.

They now have 22 official partners in total.

Arne Slot’s side title win plus contract extensions for Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk meanwhile have triggered a retail boom, ensuring Liverpool will easily surpass last year’s commercial income of £308m.

For owners who don’t like to put money into the football side of the club, increasing revenue while simultaneously reducing spending and still being successful on the pitch is a dream result.

Ahead of the summer, however, investment in the squad is needed. Jeremie Frimpong, earmarked as the successor for Real Madrid-bound Trent Alexander-Arnold, will likely be the first addition of many.

Here, TBR Football looks at the latest news from the football finance ecosystem and how it might affect FSG and Liverpool.

• READ MORE: Arne Slot needs to sign Liverpool’s next Xabi Alonso for £70m now after sealing Jeremie Frimpong deal

FSG investors Arctos seal £4bn-valued deal

John Henry, Mike Gordon and Tom Werner are FSG’s most prominent investors but the Boston-based group’s capital base has swelled significantly in recent years.

Now, there are dozens of investors in the firm, including both private individuals and investment companies like Dynasty Equity, RedBird Capital and Arctos.

Those three private equity businesses in particular have plugged FSG and, by extension, Liverpool into a whole new circuit board in the sports business mainframe.

RedBird Capital, for instance, own AC Milan and a significant minority stake in Toulouse.

Former Liverpool shareholder LeBron James, who converted his stake into equity in FSG, has also received financial backing from RedBird for his SpringHill Entertainment company.

Serena Williams sits on the board of that business. Williams, incidentally, is married to Alexis Ohanian who last week acquired a significant minority stake in Chelsea Women.

RedBird also have a joint venture with IMI, an investment arm of Abu Dhabi, who in turn are the owners of Manchester City. Together, they own the The Telegraph newspaper and are in the process of selling it to Chelsea owner Todd Boehly. The tentacles of football business are stretching far and wide.

Arctos meanwhile own shares in Paris Saint-Germain and Atalanta, as well as the sports holdings company owned by Crystal Palace co-owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer.

In the latest news, Arctos have acquired an eight per cent stake in the NFL franchise Los Angeles Chargers. The deal values the team at over £4bn, which is around the same as Liverpool.

Arctos also own a 10 per cent stake in another NFL franchise, Buffalo Bills.

The firm were one of a handful of private equity companies to be cleared to invest in the NFL last year. That contingent also contains direct Liverpool shareholders Dynasty Equity.

• READ MORE: Ally McCoist tells Liverpool to move for £86m striker who could get them 30-plus goals per season

European Super League back in the news: What is Liverpool’s stance?

While FSG have woken a sleeping giant with Liverpool on the pitch in the last 15 years, they have also overseen one of the most controversial episodes in the club’s history: The European Super League plot.

FSG were one of the biggest champions of the Super League, which collapsed almost as soon as it was launched in April 2021. They reluctantly pulled out in the face of seething protests by fans.

The Super League is now back, albeit under a different name. The group set up to re-launch the breakaway competition, A22 Sports Management, has launched the Unify League, which is an expanded version of the original proposal that includes promotion, relegation and a free-to-air media model.

In some quarters, the new proposal is seen as little more a bargaining chip in negotiations with UEFA, who placated the Super League clubs by introducing the new Champions League format this season.

However, FootBiz report that one senior executive at a Big Six Premier League club is still desperate to launch a Super League-style competition.

That unnamed executive has even been branded ‘Mr Super League’ by those in the know.

Liverpool’s official stance is that they would not re-join the A22 project. Even if they were on board, the new independent regulator for English football could block them.

However, FSG were forced to revise their entire business plan when the Super League fell and those TBR Football speaks to in the industry suggests that they would jump at the chance to join up if it was possible.

• READ MORE: How Liverpool privately feel about paying Florian Wirtz’s huge £126m price tag

Premier League and Liverpool double-up with Coca-Cola sponsorship

Despite not playing in the Champions League last season, only seven teams in world football earned more money than Liverpool last season.

That is largely because of their commercial performance, which to a certain extent they have managed to decouple from performance on the pitch.

Liverpool generated £308m through sponsorship, retail and events, which was a club record and five times what they earned across the same category when FSG bought the club in 2010.

One of their blue-chip sponsors is Coca-Cola, with whom they signed in the summer.

Now, the Premier League has announced its own, league-wide deal with the soft drink titans.

What that means for the future of Liverpool’s deal with Coca-Cola is unclear.

It has been known for sponsors to cancel club-specific deals when they sign a league-wide agreement so as to deflect accusations of partisanship.

Incidentally, Leeds United co-owners Red Bull face a similar conundrum next season given that they sponsor several Premier League clubs, who are ostensibly now direct rivals.

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