The tantalising prospect of buying a slice of one of the world’s few crown jewel football brands – just as prestige clubs get set to cash-in on a post-pandemic commercial boom – has analysts speculating that Liverpool could be valued at as much as $7bn.
The owners of Liverpool FC have kicked off a process exploring whether to sell a minority stake to a new investor, a well-timed exercise designed to put a price on a club enjoying on-field success in recent years that has seen its already huge global fan base surge.
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Roman Abramovich’s £2.5bn ($4.25bn) sale of Chelsea to US investors this summer – the enforced nature of the sale following the Russian oligarch being hit with sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine notwithstanding – provided a multi-billion pound yardstick for the ballpark value of a prestige English Premier League club.
The subsequent collapse of the pound to record lows against the US dollar following the disastrous “mini-budget” introduced by former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has created bargain Britain for overseas buyers seeking bang for their buck.
“They are one of the big legacy clubs in the most popular and commercially successful league in the world, an opportunity like this doesn’t come up very often,” said Tim Crow, a sports marketing consultant. “Given the price Chelsea achieved, an auction Liverpool’s owners Fenway [Sports Group] would have watched with huge interest, an investor in Liverpool could give it a valuation as high as $7bn.”
Chelsea’s bankers worked through 200 indicative bids before a deal was reached with a consortium, led by US financier Todd Boehly, underlining the huge global interest in Premier League teams.Liverpool’s “sales deck”, which is being handled by advisors Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, will make for financially pleasing reading for would-be investors in the club.
Under their head coach, Jürgen Klopp, the club won its first league title in three decades in 2020, following a Champions League win the year before, with trophies essential currency in building commercial revenues.For the 2020-21 season Liverpool signed a new kit deal with Nike said to be worth more than $39.5m (£28.3m) annually, in a deal that included a 20% cut of all sales which the club has indicated will take it past the $100m annual earnings mark.Last year, Liverpool’s official social media presence on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter shot through the 100m follower mark – excluding the popularity of individual players’ accounts – cementing its position as one of