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United States billionaires will become the lead investors in European Football
Since the pandemic of 2020 North American Private Equity and Hedge Funds have been pouring billions of dollars in the European football leagues. They have done so because they have identified massive value-creation opportunity. As EU football clubs underperformed financially during the pandemic, American investors have moved in to identify and buy out these undervalued assets. This trend will continue and probably accelerate in Europe as North American investors have the financial know-how and are the preferred team acquirer as they fit in culturally with the fans base.
Why private equity?
Normally, Private Equity (PE) firms seek to invest in mature but undervalued companies. They invest in these companies, and they manage them by tackling inefficiencies to increase their values before exiting the investment in the quickest time frame possible, ideally within 3–5 years. Having said that, over the last few years we have seen enormous interest from PE firms towards sports teams (investments that require a longer time horizon), particularly those EU football teams that are financially in trouble and challenged by regulations. Additionally, PE firms have targeted lower division football teams who have not fully commercialized their operations and have big upside potential. Most importantly…
