FSG plans for Liverpool if NBA team purchase goes through
The future plans of Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group are back on the agenda with the confirmation that a Las Vegas NBA franchise was being pursued.
Previously, FSG and Liverpool chairman Tom Werner, FSG partner and Boston Red Sox president Sam Kennedy, and RedBird Capital Partners founder and managing partner Gerry Cardinale, whose firm owns 11% of FSG, have all spoken loosely of plans for a NBA team to become part of the portfolio at some point.
Key to the plan is, of course, basketball icon LeBron James, who initially took a 2% stake in Liverpool back in 2011 as part of a rights deal signed with Fenway Sports Management (FSM). That was accreted into 1% of FSG’s entire empire back in 2021 at the same time as the RedBird deal closed for $750m. Earlier this year Los Angeles Lakers star James further increased his equity in FSG through a lifetime rights partnership with FSM.
Klopp gives Alisson and Mac Allister updates with good and bad injury news
Steven Gerrard wants 'protection' after brawl breaks out and Saudi disappointment continues
Speaking at the Sports Business Journal Intercollegiate Athletic Forum in Las Vegas earlier this week, Cardinale said: “We’re looking at bringing an NBA expansion team here in partnership with LeBron and Fenway Sports Group.”
It was yet further confirmation of the plan, something which James himself had been vocal about, telling ESPN this week that him owning an expansion franchise in Las Vegas was the “ultimate goal.”
There isn’t yet any Las Vegas franchise to speak of, with the plan to increase the number of teams from 30 to 32 not yet up for discussion among member teams, with the next media deal at the top of the current agenda. However, by the middle of next year it is
Read on liverpoolecho.co.uk
