Richard Masters, chief executive of the Premier League, sees no letup in the number of bids for teams from sovereign wealth funds as well as American investors.
“Premier League clubs have become very investable and we have interest in all parts of the world,” Masters said in an interview in New York. “In recent years we have had investments by sovereign wealth funds and private equity but principally the US, I see those sort of trends continuing,” he said.
The Premier League is currently promoting a tournament in the US, with Manchester United and Arsenal FC playing in front of 80,000 in the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey last weekend. Ryan Reynolds-owned Wrexham United is also playing Manchester United in San Diego on Wednesday.
Sovereign wealth funds or companies backed by sovereign money already own Newcastle United and Manchester City. Manchester United is currently the subject of a bid from Qatar’s Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad J.J. Al Thani.
Teams including Chelsea FC, Liverpool FC, Crystal Palace, and Fulham are all owned by US investors, while Premier League revenues have gone from strength to strength.
Clubs in the Premier League have an average revenue of £332 million ($427 million), the largest of the big five European Leagues, according to Deloitte’s recent annual review of finance 2023.
The Premier League is fighting off calls, formalized in a recent government-backed report, to bring in an independent regulator for the football industry.
Masters said the job as a regulator was to approve and check the new entities wanting to buy into the league.
“We have an owners and directors’ test but it is an independent board that makes those decisions, not like the owners themselves in the US,” he said, adding that the league’s current rules reflected British government policy.
“If you can invest in the UK you can invest in a Premier League club,” he said.
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