Business of Soccer: Liverpool FC Is On a US Tour After World Cup

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1:25The appetite for soccer in this country is here to stay. The Global World Cup of 26 will bring just that, the globe, to the United States. Every four years, you know, there's this moment where the world wakes up to the incredible athletes that we have on the U.S. women's national team. There are more soccer games available to watch on television in the U.S. than any other country in the world. Soccer, or as I would call it, living in the U.K., football, is the biggest sport in the world. There's a gap in the market around women's soccer, and we're here to fill that gap. Bloomberg Business of Soccer from Bloomberg Radio.

2:00Hello, welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports. We are here with a special edition on the business of soccer because soccer didn't just stop after the World Cup. I am Vanessa Perdoma-Maglione and another special treat today is joining me as a special guest host today is the Business of Sports intern, Caitlin Pooley. Hi, everyone. Welcome and excited to join the show today. Our guest today is CEO of one of the biggest soccer teams in the world. You might have heard of them before. Please welcome to the show Billy Hogan. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Fenway Sports Group International and CEO of Liverpool FC.

2:32Billy, thanks so much for joining us in the studio today. Vanessa, Caitlin, happy to be here. Thanks for having me. So like I had just mentioned, something just happened here in the U.S., this small little tournament called the World Cup. I'm sad about it. I can't get over it. You know, it was so special to have it be here in market, to see everyone coming in, interacting with it, new fans, casual fans that turn on every four years, and obviously the diehard soccer fans. So tell us from what you saw, how people were engaging with it. What do you think that tournament is going to do for the next few years for the soccer market in the U.S.?

3:05I mean, I think the World Cup historically has always been, as you said, kind of a four-year football, I would say, but soccer celebration. I think this year felt different in that sense. I think, you know, a number of people that I spoke to who came over for the matches and then came back to Europe, you know, said, A, they had an incredible experience just being in the U.S. and, you know, traveling around to the different cities, meeting different people from the U.S. And there are all sorts of stories about, you know, portion sizes and ranch dressing and all those sorts of things. I loved those videos.

3:43So, yeah. So I think overall, I think the, you know, the vibe, if you will, was was one of just a celebration of of the of the sport, but also a celebration of the culture around the sport. And I think you saw that with, you know, the Norwegian team. Fenway Sports Group is based in Boston and and famously the Scots who invaded Boston and had an incredible 10 day stay there. Drank up all the beer. Drank the city dry. Exactly. So it was good for beer sales, good for Carlsberg. But, you know, I think generally speaking, it was a really positive experience. I was at the final and so had the had the opportunity to just see, you know, of course, there were tons of Argentina fans, a lot of Spanish fans, but fans of different countries as well that were there.

4:31And I think it was just a celebration and that the amount of joy that surrounded the game over the course of the tournament, I think, was palpable. So the hope is that that's a great ramp and that it continues the growth. I mean, soccer is obviously growing exponentially in the U.S. anyway, but hopefully the World Cup is just another accelerant to it. So I'm kind of curious, in a very large market, Liverpool is now competing with not only other Premier League clubs, but also with American sports teams for fans, sponsors, attention. What do you think differentiates Liverpool in that market and how can Liverpool kind of capitalize on these new, let's say, casual soccer or football fans?

5:16Yeah, I think from our perspective, I think, you know, individually, we could talk about the club as well. But I think the opportunity, by virtue of the fact that we play in the Premier League, which is the biggest football league in the world, the most watched football league in the world, and we are one of, we would argue the biggest, one of the biggest clubs in that league. And so I think when you take kind of that combination of biggest sport in the world, biggest league in the world, biggest one of the biggest clubs in the world, that's a really positive foundation, obviously, to be working from.

5:49I think that the club itself has its own unique characteristics. And I think, you know, not everybody maybe is a Liverpool fan, but I think there's a tremendous amount of respect for the club in the sport. And, you know, we try and we try and do things, as we say, the Liverpool way. We try and do things the right way. Um, since Fenway sports group has owned the club, um, is, uh, you know, that's, that's been the tenure that I've been at the club now. And, um, we've worked really hard to run the club sustainably. Um, and, uh, and that, you know, my principal responsibility at the club is the business side of the club.

6:23Um, and effectively, you know, what we try and do every day is work really closely with our partners, our sponsors, and all of our retail partners, all the commercial elements of the club and also very closely with our supporters around the world to try and drive revenue that we can invest back into the football club. And whether that's on the pitch or that's infrastructure with all the improvements that we've made over the course of the last 16 years. So I think, you know, we have an advantage in that sense in playing in the Premier League. Our partners here in the U.S. and B.C. have been a fantastic platform for the club and for the league.

6:57And I think also it's, you know, it always helps when you're playing well and when you're doing well on the pitch. So, you know, we're part of the reason why we're here this summer and, you know, we get the match tomorrow night against Wrexham here in Yankee Stadium is to, you know, to promote the club and to bring the club closer to those fans, some of whom are diehard and hardcore and others who maybe are casual and having that experience, you know, we were just in Nashville, we were talking about earlier, was a great celebration and a fun night out in Nashville as well. So I think all of our fans really getting the chance to kind of be together and create that community is something that's really important to the club as well.

7:36Billy, on that and on this, you know, the international friendlies that you guys are doing coming here, it's not something new, right? This is obviously something that's a strategic thing over years and years. But is it different? Do you find, have you seen, you know, in Nashville, was it different coming out of the World Cup? Do you expect the crowd at Yankee Stadium to be completely different than you've seen in the last couple of years? I don't think it'll be too different, to be fair. I think, you know, still predominantly Liverpool fans, but I think, you know, to the point earlier, you may have some sort of casual fans that were, you know, got interested in the sport because of the World Cup.

8:12And because we're in Nashville or New York tomorrow night or Chicago on Sunday, you know, they may want to come out and check out a match. So I don't think it'll be significantly different, but I do think that the buzz around soccer or football here in the U.S. is only a positive. And so, you know, coming in kind of off the wave of the World Cup is a positive for us. And at the end of the day, this is about our opportunity not just to bring the club closer to our fans. You know, we have 26 million fans here in the U.S. Many of them obviously will not get the chance to come and see us at Anfield.

8:48But it's also the opportunity for the team to get some training in. I mean, preseason is preseason. So it's about them putting in the hours to get the proper training and the facilities that we're working at and that we're playing in are fantastic. And that's one of the great things about coming to the U.S. is that the facilities that we work with, the logistics, the operational ease of kind of moving around the country is something that is really beneficial from a training perspective as well. I want to pivot gears for a second because I'm curious. Obviously, you guys are trying to grow internationally looking at the United States.

9:22I know it's your number one international retail marketplace. Liverpool has become one of the richest football clubs, largely by expanding globally. Yet your identity is obviously very rooted in a working class local fan base. As you grow revenues through, you know, premium seating, international supporters, all of that. How do you make sure you don't lose the culture that made Liverpool special and what it is in the first place? Yeah, that's a that's a great question. And it's something that, you know, we work on every day. I mean, as I said before, one of the one of the most important things from our perspective, the most important thing is our supporters.

10:02And, you know, our job at the club, if you will, is to is to try and win trophies and to compete at the highest levels. And that is both in the Premier League as well as in European football, in the Champions League. And ultimately, investment is needed in order to win. And that's just the simple fact of the matter. And so what we work really hard on on the business side is trying to balance that, trying to balance how do we how do we grow revenues? How do we maintain what is unique about the club and that connection to to the city, to our supporters and to our supporters globally? You know, there's a really when we do come out on tour, you see, you know, similar banners, similar songs, similar chants, you know, sung by people who've never been to Liverpool, who've never been to Anfield, but have this incredible connection to the club through that community of being a supporter.

10:53So that's something that we are very cognizant of. And at the same time, we also want to find almost 40 % of our partners from a corporate sponsorship standpoint are actually based now in the US. So I think they have seen the opportunity that is presented by a truly global platform, a club that reaches every market across the world. You know, we literally have 1.5 billion engagements across our social media channels on an annual basis. We're the most engaged club in the Premier League. So from a marketing standpoint and an opportunity to kind of tell a story and to tell that authentically through the club, you know, that's something that's really appealing to our partners.

11:36So we try and work on the connection of our supporters to the club. We try and win trophies. And then we're obviously trying to grow revenues so that we can continue to invest back into the club. And that's something that we take incredibly seriously and we think about in pretty much everything we do. We are speaking with Billy Hogan. He's the chief executive officer of Fenway Sports International, chief executive officer of Liverpool FC. Billy, you had mentioned there, obviously, the investment part of it. And reports are suggesting that Fenway Sports Group has explored bringing in minority investors at a valuation of about$6 billion.

12:09What can you tell us about the way FSG is thinking about outside investment and where you are in those sorts of conversations? Yeah, I think FSG has always been very direct in the sense that if there's an opportunity that is a benefit for the football club, then they would obviously consider that. I think most recently in regards to these reports, there was a statement put out last week, which was effectively we've been approached by a consortium that's led, managed and represented by Amit Bhatia to make a strategic minority investment in the club. And there's really nothing else to say beyond that.

12:45So, yeah, that's pretty much it. I'm curious, not necessarily related to this potential investment, but more broadly, what would strategic investment generally kind of unlock for Liverpool that it might not have access to now? And would it bring or would it be football operations or infrastructure, commercial expansion, something else that would kind of be unlocked by new capital in general? Yeah, I can only go back to my previous statement, which is the fact that we've been approached about a strategic minority investment. And there's really nothing to say beyond that at this point. You had mentioned earlier in the conversation about sustainability when you're talking about growing revenues and also looking at, especially under the Fenway Sports Group umbrella, being American owners.

13:32and the American way of owning sports teams is very different than I think a lot of the English Premier League had previously done things. So having American investors, how does that shape the way you're thinking about sustainability, you're thinking about growing the business? Yeah, I mean, look, I wouldn't comment on what other ownerships do or don't do. From our perspective, I've worked for FSG for over 20 years and the mindset and And the mantra has always been to try and operate the clubs or teams or whatever property it is that we own as well as we possibly can from an operational standpoint, from a commercial standpoint, and then to reinvest back into the team.

14:17And that's the same mindset at the Red Sox, at Roush Fenway, at RFK Racing. It was the same at the Pittsburgh Penguins, which we recently sold. it's the same as our partnership now with the PGA Tour and so you know really you know my focus coming from the commercial side has always just been about that sustainability piece and that's been you know from John Henry, Tom Warner, Mike Gordon, our principals you know the mantra has always been you know run the clubs of the teams as well as we possibly can and reinvest back into the product and the product ultimately which is on the field on the pitch and try and win And, you know, ultimately, we're you know, we're in this.

15:00We're all very competitive. We want to win trophies. That's that's ultimately why we wake up every morning to to try and win trophies at whatever property we're at. But we try and do that in a sustainable way. In terms of growing Anfield sustainably, because I know you were very involved in the renovation of the stadium. I know now you guys have 11 ,000 premium seats in the stadium. And looking about growing the actual infrastructure of the stadium sustainably, how do you think about growing these higher-end experiences without fundamentally changing Anfield's atmosphere? I know you were talking before about all the songs and the chants and that local culture.

15:39culture. How do you keep that intact while also expanding those premium offerings? Yeah, I think there's an element of, I mean, from an expansion standpoint, and we've gone through sort of two phases of expanding Anfield. When Fenway Sports Group first came in as the owners of Liverpool, the overall capacity of Anfield was just under 45 ,000. We went through the mainstand redevelopment. And we added 9 ,000 capacity to that, to the main stand, to ultimately to Anfield to get to just about 54 ,000. And then ultimately the second phase, which got us to just over 61 ,000. So, you know, one of the larger stadiums now in the Premier League.

16:23And again, part of that in terms of, you know, going back to that sustainable sustainability point, you know, part of the the expansion was really driven by how can you increase the match day revenues? And at the same time, that allows you to reinvest back into the team. So everything that we do, you know, keep coming back to that point is about reinvesting back into the club. And so part of that with each expansion, there were hospitality seats, obviously included within that, which necessarily helps the business plan in terms of the return on that investment. And then also GA seats, and whether those were match day seats, whether those are new season tickets.

17:02So there's a split between sort of where we've been from a GA perspective, general admission seat, and where we are as well from a hospitality standpoint. So there's always a focus from our standpoint in terms of making sure that we look at them very differently. Hospitality is one experience, and GA obviously is a different one. And so, you know, we look at each of the, you know, if you came to Anfield and you'd see, you know, each of the lounges is very different. Each of the experiences are very different. It kind of depends where you are in the ground. But yeah, that's something that we look at very seriously as we think about overall match day revenues.

17:37And again, you know, coming back to that point around competing with our competition set, you know, we need to look at that as well as it relates to the overall landscape of football on a European basis, not just in the UK. Right. Absolutely. I want to get back to the conversation a little bit about growing here in the U.S. and what the next phase of that looks like for you guys. You already have a lot of fans here in the U.S., obviously. And like you said, you already have 40 percent of your corporate sponsors are also based in the U.S. So what is the next phase and what are you hoping to grow?

18:07Yeah, continued. I think I would say, first of all, continued expansion probably of our corporate partner base. I think that aspect of, you know, U.S. companies that have global aspirations and the platform that football provides, something that reaches into, you know, every market around the world is something that, you know, we are we do every day. and we continue to talk to potential partners about sort of joining the club, which is something that our team, Ben Latte, our chief commercial officer and his team are working on every day. You mentioned retail and Caitlin, you mentioned this is one of our, it is actually our largest international market from a retail perspective.

18:53About 26 % of our overall sales come from the US. So we have expanded our retail footprint. We have 25 standalone Liverpool retail stores around the world, which is more than any other sports team in the world. We don't have any in the U.S. yet. So that's potentially something we're looking hard at what that might what that might entail. And then, you know, there's you know, we have 62 official Liverpool supporters clubs that are based here in 32 states. So the opportunity to expand those and 12 international academies that we have here as well. So and those are really about, you know, grassroots and sort of our coaches being on the ground and representing the club.

19:35And that's a big footprint. Yeah, it is. Thousands of kids in the U.S. wearing Liverpool kit, running around playing football or soccer, which is great. And and obviously more of that would be even better. So, you know, from our perspective, I think that, you know, this market has such a huge opportunity with the growth of football, the growth of soccer that, you know, we think we know that Liverpool is one of the biggest clubs in the world is something that, you know, we think that there's a huge opportunity here for us. And the other point I would add is also, you know, we're here over the course of these two weeks and we, you know, we bring the LFC Foundation, our coaches to come out and work in the community.

20:15I think that's something also that's really important about the club is that, you know, you mentioned it earlier, the connection to the community back at home in Liverpool, but also the connection to community wherever we go. So some of our foundation coaches were headed off to one of the fire department in New York branches to do a soccer school with some of the kids from the fire department and associated charitable organizations. We have Make-A-Wish coming to the hotel this evening. And so there's a lot that we do when we're on the ground as well to identify this isn't just about sort of coming in, playing a match and leaving.

20:52It's important that we do try and sort of put some roots down and continue to engage even when the club is gone. Busy days, busy days. Well, our thanks to Billy Hogan, Chief Executive Officer at Fenway Sports Group International and Liverpool FC. Billy, thanks so much for joining Bloomberg Business Sports. We really appreciate it. Thank you both for having me. That's it for this episode of the Business of Soccer, a special edition of the Bloomberg Business of Sports. I'm Vanessa Perdoma-Maglione with Caitlin Poley, you're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio around the world.

21:25And don't forget to catch our podcast on all your podcast platforms and go to Bloomberg.com to subscribe to the Bloomberg Business of Sports newsletter to stay up to date on all our juicy insights. Awesome. That's it for this episode of the Business of Soccer, a special edition of the Bloomberg Business of Sports. I'm Vanessa Perdomo-Maglione with Caitlin Poley. Thanks again for joining us and tune in again next week and stay up to date on all our juicy insights with the Bloomberg Business & Sports newsletter.

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