Despite wrangling with the impact of a global pandemic, Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group have pressed ahead with their plans for investment in the United States.
FSG, under the leadership of John W. Henry, have committed to a phase of regeneration around the organisation's home, Fenway Park, where the FSG-owned Boston Red Sox play.
The plans, which are being moved forward by one of FSG's subsidiaries, Fenway Sports Group Real Estate, will see four areas around the famous baseball stadium with the company working in collaboration with clothing company ’47 Brand, as well as WS Development.
According to the Boston Globe, the plans, which would see retail, office, laboratory space and a hotel spring up, would also likely see the Red Sox back office staff leave Fenway Park, thus freeing up more room for development inside the confines of the stadium itself.
The plans had been in the works for a number of years but are now set to move to the next phase.
But how will these plans ripple back across the Atlantic?
Developing real estate has been something of a go-to move for Major League Baseball teams in recent years, with the Atlanta Braves, Colorado Rockies, San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Angels among the franchises to have redeveloped land around their home stadiums.
It has proved to be a fruitful enterprise. Real estate development for MLB sides has meant that they have been able to carry out improvements to their stadiums and increase revenue streams without impacting so heavily on baseball economics - their balance sheet around what takes place on the field.
By being gearing improvements to stadiums in this way, i.e by using borrowed funds and increasing debt, it means that they are not subject to a luxury tax, a surcharge levied only on products or services that are deemed non-essential or accessible only to the very wealthy.
The more money coming in to the Red Sox, the better for FSG. The more money coming into FSG, the better for Liverpool, certainly when you take into account the possibility that FSG will become a publicly listed company in the coming months should the potential deal to sell 20 per cent of the business to RedBall Acquisitions be realised.
Moves like this will only serve to add further value to the businesses, something that will be of increasing interest to the Reds if and when FSG makes a move onto the stock market.
The more valuable FSG is, the more competitive Liverpool and the Red Sox will seek to become when it comes to strengthening on the field.
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