Bob Kraft, billionaire owner of the New England Patriots NFL franchise, was once asked about English football and replied with his own question: ‘Why would I buy something without guaranteed income because of relegation?’
Because of that Kraft has not invested, but many rich Americans have and are continuing in increasing numbers.
Promotions for Leeds and Burnley, with Sheffield United favourites from the play-offs, means 12 of the 20 Premier League clubs next season could be US-owned.
This version of ‘the Yanks are coming’ is causing a little panic among traditionalists who assume that once a voting bloc of 14 (the threshold to change Premier League rules) is reached, all hell will break loose.
While I would prefer indigenous ownership models and can be guilty of viewing all overseas ownership through the prism of ‘which disease would I want least’, I don’t fear US ownership.
Robert Kraft (pictured shaking hands with Donald Trump after winning the Super Bowl in 2017) doesn’t see the value in investing in the Premier League, but plenty more do
Leeds’ promotion next season adds to the US influence over the Premier League
Former NFL star JJ Watt (second right) is one of a number of American investors at Burnley, who will also be back in the top flight next season
If Kraft was dissuaded from becoming involved by the basis on which football is run, his compatriots who have purchased clubs are also well aware of the industry’s values and broadly accept them.
I don’t really see the American ownership model wanting to change everything so the game is no longer what we recognise.
This premise that 14 US owners in the Premier League will want to unpick the very sport they invested in seems something that, while a concern, is more steeped in fear than fact. It’s like looking for the bogey man, thinking they will want to drop relegation and change the parameters.
To begin with, not all American owners are alike and have a homogeneous view.
Each have their own different background and motivation. For example, Dan Friedkin at Everton, Wes Edens at Aston Villa and John Textor at Crystal Palace are well-rehearsed in the European model, either owning or holding substantial stakes in different clubs for a substantial period.
Yes, they are commercially minded, but I’m not sure that differentiates too greatly from non-American owners.
The Abu Dhabi Group at Manchester City may have a wider agenda, but still want to reach the point of economic viability. It’s why their club is now making profit and pushing the prices up on certain things, like ticketing.
We’re seeded in the thinking that, because American sports are structured specifically to make money, the same owners coming here will present specific challenges.
Dan Friedkin, who has just taken over Everton, will have his own distinct agenda separate to those of other US owners
The Abu Dhabi Group at Manchester City may have a wider agenda, but still want to reach the point of economic viability
Americans wrote the rules for their own sports with their own model in mind
But it’s different. They wrote the rules for the NBA, NFL and Major League Baseball at its creation with the specific model in mind. In UK football, they have bolted onto a game that is 150 years old.
I am sure they are aware football is different, global, and they haven’t got carte blanche. Though it’s not to say some wouldn’t ideally want their own version of Trump protectionism, they are more likely to seek some form of insulation rather than the removal of baked-in meritocracy that European football has flourished from.
Why rip up a business that attracted them in the first place and is set to offer so many more revenue opportunities?
Football has billions of followers, so it’s no surprise capitalist America aspires to have a slice of the dominant domestic league, the Premier League.
For them, it’s not just about success on the pitch but other ownership benefits too; business associations, brand representation, influence, access to customers around the planet. Remember there is a ceiling on the NFL because it is restricted to one country.
It is not only global legacy clubs like Manchester United, Liverpool or Arsenal that have investors from across the Atlantic.
Ipswich, Wrexham, Birmingham, Gillingham and Carlisle are among others in US hands. For them, a pyramid with promotion is good. What would be the point of purchasing an EFL or National League club if they were restricted by the American-style closed shop?
In addition, each American owner story has its own twist. Wrexham was originally a content idea that has developed into something more significant. Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have attached themselves to a football club and funded it through digital streams to generate huge marketing revenues.
It’s not just the legacy clubs like Liverpool who have been taken over by American money
Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have attached themselves to Wrexham and funded it through digital streams to generate huge marketing revenues
Tom Wagner has brought his own personal brand of ownership to Birmingham City
In contrast, Todd Boehly bought an existing Premier League giant, Chelsea, and has spent like a drunken American sailor on shore leave, with currently very little economic sustainability in what he’s done.
It’s still important to be mindful and thus perhaps some protections should be built into the constitution of the national sport. Football clubs are community assets so, to some extent like Grade II-listed buildings, you may buy as many as you want – but your ability to do precisely as you wish is dramatically impeded.
For example, any grand notion of picking up a club and porting it somewhere else, as they do in America, wouldn’t fly.
Also, while I didn’t join the hysteria against the European Super League, it is noticeable that the American owners of Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and American-influenced Chelsea ran snivelling away from the impending confrontation.
That’s not to say if they have safety in numbers they might become more emboldened in structural changes elsewhere, but the Premier League in my view has not nearly reached its full potential, so I don’t see the killing of the golden goose.
All that said, I can’t join the bandwagon of differentiating between American owners and the rest. A good owner is a good owner, regardless of nationality. Ditto the bad ones.
If you ask Liverpool fans what they think of American owners, they could point to John W Henry who has just overseen a second Premier League title, or Tom Hicks and George Gillett, who nearly ruined the club. It’s not a one-size fits all.
From my recent trips to America. I’ve learned the owner is often the most recognised and revered individual at a sporting club. It’s a sharp contrast to the five stages of being an owner in England, which starts with optimism and often ends with depression!
Let’s not forget how owners ran scared of Premier League fans when the Super League was proposed in 2021
In the USA, the owner (Kraft pictured in 2019) even gets to lift the trophy. Attitude to sport is different over there to here. I think American owners get that
In the USA, the owner even gets to lift the trophy. Attitude to sport is different over there to here. I think the American owners get that.
They’ve not purposefully bought into a world sport, football, to turn it into the stars and stripes alongside a rendition of Hail to the Chief.
Let’s wait to hail Lampard and Carrick
Admiration is the wrong way to describe Frank Lampard and Michael Carrick turning to management – they’re too young to be sitting around scratching their backside – but I accept it’s a greater challenge for big names to be hailed a success.
The England team-mates face each other on Saturday when Coventry and Middlesbrough battle it out for a play-off spot.
Admiration is the wrong way to describe Frank Lampard and Michael Carrick turning to management – they’re too young to be sitting around scratching their backside
If one wins promotion and does well next season, that’s the time to admire them
Other managers would have been patted on the back for being this close with those clubs, but expectations are higher when you’ve won medals with Chelsea and Manchester United. Because it’s them, their new careers will be judged by their old ones, fair or not.
Both are ambitious to be in the Premier League where they flourished as players but, not yet, as managers. If one wins promotion and does well next season, that’s the time to admire – not yet, merely because they’ve stayed in the game.
Let Benn be Benn
I don’t know if people will change how they perceive Conor Benn. I think perhaps they should
While I’m not sure we’ve had full accountability as to how there was a banned substance in his system, Conor Benn is now allowed to fight and performed valiantly against Chris Eubank Jr.
Therefore I don’t see any need for further vitriol when other boxers who failed drugs tests, like Tyson Fury and Canelo Alvarez, are celebrated.
I don’t know if people will change how they perceive Conor. I think perhaps they should.