Liverpool have courted the basketball world through their association with LeBron James and, recently, it seemed as though they might take the relationship with the NBA to the next level.
On the continent, the multi-sports model – wherein owners united several sports teams under the same badge – is common. In Spain, Turkey, Germany and other European nations, having a basketball team run alongside a football side doesn’t arouse the same suspicion as, generally speaking, it has in the UK.
Liverpool fans were somewhat bewildered, for example, when their club launched a Superleague Formula team in 2008. Their dalliance with motorsport was short-lived and, by the time FSG took over the club in 2010, had already fizzled out.
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Fenway Sports Group themselves, of course, have ownership stakes in Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, NASCAR and the PGA Tour through the Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Penguins, RFK Racing and Boston Common Gold respectively.
Liverpool and FSG principal owner John Henry attends Minnesota Twins v Boston Red Sox
Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
And earlier this year, as we reported exclusively, Liverpool’s owners held talks about buying a franchise in rebel rugby union league R360.
The club are also looking to launch a multi-club model within football. Plans to take over Spanish side Getafe were aborted earlier this month, but FSG seemingly have their sights set on La Liga.
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Tangentially, Liverpool also share ownership links with Paris Saint-Germain, Atalanta and AC Milan through FSG shareholders Arctos and RedBird Capital.
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And in a development emblematic of how tight the Venn diagram between Premier League clubs’ ownerships is becoming, RedBird Capital’s proposed takeover of The Telegraph newspaper collapsed last week because of the private equity firm’s links to Sheikh Mansour, owner of Manchester City and vice president of the UAE.
Dynasty Equity meanwhile, who acquired a small minority stake in Liverpool in 2023, have been cleared to invest in the NFL, which – even compared to the Premier League – is where the real treasure is buried in sports business.
Liverpool seemingly excluded from NBA Europe opportunity
But while Liverpool manifestly have umpteen direct links to different sports, basketball is one where they have yet to really plant their flag.
Yes, there was previously the commercial tie-up with LeBron James, who himself was once a Liverpool shareholder.
But the LA Lakers superstar has since converted his two per cent stake in the club to a one per cent share in FSG’s overall portfolio. And now that Liverpool are no longer partnered with James’ sponsor Nike, the formal links between the two parties have ended.
LeBron James attends an Los Angeles Lakers Game in Liverpool-branded merchandise
Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
What’s more, the Lakers are now co-owned by Mark Walter and Todd Boehly, who also own Chelsea, reinforcing the fact that the LeBron-Liverpool partnership is almost certainly dead. Officially, at least.
However, a few months ago, multiple industry sources confirmed to Rousing The Kop that FSG had been approached about acquiring the rights for a franchise in NBA Europe.
The league is slated to launch in October 2027 and will feature a range of existing basketball teams and newly-created sides operating under the auspices and badges of big-name football clubs.
London, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool were all proposed as host cities, insiders told us.
Liverpool FC, Birmingham City, Tottenham, Manchester City and Manchester United were also known to have been canvassed for their thoughts about badging a basketball team.
The Liverpool badge on a pair of shorts
Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images
Arsenal and Chelsea were excluded because of their ownerships’ existing investments in the NBA.
But now, new comments from NBA Europe general manager George Aivazoglou suggest that there will be no new basketball outpost on Merseyside.
He told Gazzetta dello Sport: “We’re thinking of London and Manchester for the United Kingdom, Paris and Lyon for France, Madrid and Barcelona for Spain, Milan and Rome for Italy, Berlin and Munich for Germany, plus one each in Athens and Istanbul, to also strike a balance with values like history and tradition.”
Elsewhere, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Barcelona and the Milan clubs have been reliably linked with an investment in NBA Europe, which is expected to cost up to £750m.
Could FSG be preparing NBA takeover in America?
Here’s a theory: FSG could have one eye on taking over an NBA franchise in America some day.
Previously, Liverpool’s owners were linked with a deal for the Boston Red Sox, though that never materialised and the veracity of the reports was questionable.
With no place for Liverpool on the list of NBA Europe host cities, FSG seemingly have either missed or passed on the opportunity to launch an NBA team this side of the Atlantic.
But under the league’s rules, new investors must have no existing ownership links elsewhere in basketball, so that does leave FSG free to invest in an American NBA franchise in the future.
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This year, it has been claimed that John Henry, Tom Werner and the rest of FSG’s top brass are considering selling either a significant minority stake or their entire interest in the Pittsburgh Penguins.
With the Penguins valued at about £1.4bn (almost double what FSG paid in 2021), either scenario would give them a serious boost in liquidity. That wouldn’t be anywhere near sufficient to buy an NBA team outright, but debt would likely account for a significant chunk of any would-be deal.
And in any case, Liverpool are valued at between £4-6bn, depending which experts you ask. Fenway have the promise of that payday further down the line, which could – again, theoretically – be their entry point into the NBA.
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