Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group are hoping to emulate Manchester City and the Red Bull clubs with their new £540m private investment deal.
On Tuesday the Boston Globe - the newspaper owned by FSG co-founder John W Henry - reported that FSG are pushing ahead with expansion plans after approving investment from RedBird Capital Partners, a move which will see minority Liverpool shareholder LeBron James become a partner of the company.
Los Angeles Lakers NBA star James has held shares in Liverpool since 2011, and has used his global reach as one of the most recognisable sports stars on the planet to promote the Reds in America.
James' two percent stake in the club was said to be worth £4.7m 10 years ago, with KPMG now calculating that it is worth over £37m.
While the basketball star's increased role in the company might be the headline news, the Boston Globe's report adds that FSG - owners of baseball's Boston Red Sox - are interested in diversifying their portfolio to include "NFL and NBA franchises, another European soccer club, NHL, MLS, WNBA and NWSL teams, plus sports betting, esports, and data analytics companies."
Such an approach would mimic that of Manchester City's City Football Group, who now have a global network of eight football clubs across the UK, US, Australia, Spain, Japan, Uruguay and most recently China and India, and were recently valued at $4.8billion.
The Red Bull sports group could also be seen as an inspiration for Liverpool's owner.
The Reds have a good business relationship with the group, recently purchasing Naby Keita from RB Leipzig and Takumi Minamino from Red Bull Salzburg.
As well as Germany and Austria, the group also own football clubs in the US, Brazil and Ghana, as well as Formula 1, ice hockey and esports teams.
Liverpool's new £50m training facility in Kirkby was also inspired by Red Bull Salzburg's academy, which features state-of-the-art facilities for recovery and rehabilitation.
RedBird Capital Partners already own a stake in French Ligue 2 club Toulouse, while they recently partnered with former baseball player and coach turned sports executive Billy Beane, who is involved in the consortium that bought Barnsley in 2017.
