Why Daniel Levy and Tottenham are seeking new investment and what it means for the future

With the publication of the Tottenham Hotspur accounts for the 2022/23 financial year came confirmation from chairman Daniel Levy that the club was in talks over securing extra investment.

Over the past 12 months, Spurs have been linked with a number of interested parties, from the interest from MSP Sports Capital in acquiring the club that the Financial Times reported, to Paris Saint-Germain owners Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) being rumoured to have an interest in a minority stake.

Levy has previously denied certain links to a potential sale of either a majority or minority stake, but he has always maintained that the door would never be closed on an opportunity should it present itself at the right time and satisfy a need for the club. It now appears as if opportunity, timing, and need are all aligned.

Investment into European football has accelerated considerably in recent years, with much of the capital arriving from North America, with US investors seeing the chance for a return through the climbing value of sports teams as assets. In the US, team valuations have been high for some time. The closed nature of the leagues where promotion and relegation doesn’t exist, along with cost controls through salary caps and luxury taxes, as well as media deals being struck over longer-term deals that provides greater cost certainty for investors and team owners, have all played a part in that.

The smallest valuation of an NFL team in the US is $3.5billion (£2.8billion) according to Forbes, with that team being the Cincinnati Bengals. The most valuable are the Dallas Cowboys.

But the NFL doesn’t allow private equity into the house. Not yet anyway. The NBA has relaxed its position on outside investment over the past two years, but