More US investment in Premier League than other major football leagues
There are more clubs in the Premier League with US investment than in any other of the major European football leagues, a new report has shown.
Over half, 13, of the 20 Premier League clubs in England have US investor participation, ranging from 100 per cent ownership down to smaller stakes.
The PitchBook report shows that number beats Serie A, with 11 of the Italian top league’s 20 teams seeing US investor participation.
That drops to seven out of 18 in France’s Ligue 1, six out of 20 in the Spanish LaLiga and just one out of 18 in the German Bundesliga.
The report, titled “Private Capital in European Football: Part III”, also shows that the English Premier League, which got underway over the weekend, saw over half of its clubs backed by private equity or venture capital as of July this year.
That number was 11 out of 22, with nearly 40 per cent of all clubs across the Big Five European leagues having some PE or VC participation in the ownership hierarchy.
Premier League (PL) PE, VC, US funds
And nearly 48 per cent of the 96 clubs across the top flights of England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain are part of multi-club ownership structures.
These include the likes of Red Bull Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg; and Manchester City and Girona.
Nicolas Moura, senior EMEA private capital analyst at PitchBook, said: “Recent events have introduced greater caution, but the core investment thesis remains intact: football offers limited supply, strong global demand, and growing monetisation potential, driving higher revenues and, in turn, higher club valuations
“Rather than retreating, private capital is evolving and professionalising its presence in the game.”
There are a number of Premier League clubs whose main shareholder stems from the United States, and in two cases – at Arsenal and Fulham – clubs are entirely owned by a single American investor – Stan Kroenke and Shahid Khan respectively.