New investor into Liverpool FC, Gerry Cardinale, has already pledged to put out the best possible team he can.
Cardinale’s RedBird Capital secured a £538m investment deal with Reds owners FSG this week to give them a financial boost after a pandemic-hit year.
Cardinale, who invested in Ligue 2 side Toulouse last July, is keen to build success in his European portfolio of clubs.
And he has some seriously loft ambitions about where he wants to take those teams he invests in, while ensuring that fans stay at the very heart of the club.
Cardinale said on the ‘Are You Not Entertained Podcast’ during the summer: “Today’s world, it’s all about the money. But sometimes you have got to stop yourself and say that ‘hey, it can’t just be about the money’.
(Image: Mirror)
“When you are on your death bed looking back at life it would be a shame if it was just about the money.
“One thing I’ve noticed as I spend more time in Europe and bring our type of investment to the European sports landscape is that divergence.
“Whether in America or Europe you have to have respect for the fan. You have to have respect for the community and civic obligation that team owners have to the community in which they play.
“That connectivity to the community is so apparent in Europe.
“The fans really own the team, you as an owner or a prospective owner you better get around the fact that you are just a caretaker at this moment in time, you’ve gotten the proverbial baton and you have an obligation to do right by those fans.
“You have an obligation to put a winning team on the field, you have an obligation to create value to the fans and enhance the way that they experience their team.
“That exists in America. In America you have multi generations of fans where it is a ritual, and baseball is a classic example.
“On a Sunday afternoon in the summer a grandfather and his son, and his son’s son go to a game and it is a great four hour experience and it is a ritual. It is such a core to family values in America.
“That hasn’t gone away but what has challenged it is money and technology.
“Sports in America has become big business and as a result of that there is a greater need for better infrastructure and many of the seats that fans have have for generations get priced out of their ability to pay for them. That makes it tough.
“There is a lot of debate where there has to be a balance. You have to grow, you have to keep fuelling the evolution and development to continue to provide the value proposition to the fan, particularly in a world where the competition for eyeballs has never been greater.
“Sport comes up against video games, it comes up against eSports, it comes up against sitting at home and watching video on demand. There has to be a value proposition and that involves bringing money into the game.
“That can’t come at the expense of the grandfather, the son and the grandson being priced out of a generational experience.”
