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- [00:00]
4imprint Announcer
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- [00:30]
Bloomberg Host
Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts Radio News Liverpool FC is looking to grow its global footprint with its sights set on the U.S. the club is launching its latest away kit today in Brooklyn at an event attended by both super fans like John Oliver and players. Joining me now, so pleased to say, is Billy Hogan. He is the CEO of Liverpool Football Club and Fenway Sports Group International. Billy, thank you so much for stopping by.
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Billy Hogan
Thanks for having me.
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Bloomberg Host
And look, this is a really cool event. And you've also noted that the US is becoming one of your largest international markets. It's a tough market for sports just because it is so dense in its variety of sports fandom. What has changed to make Liverpool FC so popular here in the us?
- [01:10]
Billy Hogan
I think thankfully we, we have been popular here in the US. We've got about 26 million fans that, that follow the club here in the US and actually about 40% of our corporate partners are actually US based companies. So I think as a, as a football club we have a big following here. We have been coming to pretty regularly over the course of the last 20 years. We typically alternate between North America and Asia. So we're back this summer. We played in Nashville the other night against Sunderland. We play against Wrexham at Yankee Stadium tomorrow night and then we play against Leeds in Chicago on Sunday night. And it's a great opportunity, number one, for the team to train. Obviously that's an important part of this experience, but also for us to bring the club closer to our fans. Those 26 million fans, not all of them are going to get to Anfield. So it's our opportunity to bring them, bring the club to them.
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Bloomberg Host
Although I know Anfield is an incredible experience, experience, I'm sure a lot of them are looking to get there too. How much is the World cup made a difference for you? Because obviously so many more Americans were exposed to the sport of football. But when you think about the stars who really caught fire, be it Harling or Bellingham, I mean they're not Liverpool players. So how has it translated directly into just your fandom?
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Billy Hogan
I think generally any growth for football or soccer is, is a good thing.
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Bloomberg Host
Football on Bloomberg.
- [02:28]
Billy Hogan
Stay with football. No, I think generally speaking, it was great for football. You know, I think overall the experiences that people had, particularly traveling to the US and traveling around to the different cities. Fenway Sports Group, which owns Liverpool, is based in Boston. And famously we had the Scots invade Boston and drink it dry. So I think it's just generally speaking, there's a tremendous amount of joy around the culture of football, and that can only be a good thing. And so I think that kind of wave from the World cup will obviously help football more generally. And we're privileged as Liverpool Football Club to play in the biggest league in the world, in the Premier League. And so I think the most popular sport and the biggest league and one of the biggest clubs in the world, you know, that, that hopefully is helpful for us as we continue to expand here in the US and we do that through, as I said before, our corporate partners, but also through our digital platforms. The US is, is our largest international e commerce region. And so that's something that we're continuing to look at in terms of expansion of, of. Of the overall club. From a commercial standpoint, by the way,
- [03:32]
Bloomberg Host
that was probably one of the most incredible things to see in the World Cup. Just international fans coming to, just embracing them with full arms. But part of the criticism that the World cup did get was just increased commercialization, more games, and FIFA talked about expanding it for the next World cup. And Bloomberg reporting out this morning, suggesting that FIFA for the first time is looking for outside investment too. Do you think that those fears are real? That it sort of ruins some of the magic of the World cup and the aims that FIFA supposedly is trying to achieve?
- [04:01]
Billy Hogan
I think, I think, look, that's a fair question. I think the biggest, the biggest issue from our standpoint is looking at going back to that sort of the experience and, and the joy and the cultural experience around those matches. And I was privileged to go to the final, obviously a tremendous amount of Argentinian fans, a number of Spanish fans, but fans from other countries that were there, that were just there to experience it. I do think that there is an element, particularly around the number of games that our athletes, our football players play. You know, the calendar has been something that we're always concerned about. And so that's something that would have to be looked at. And you know, from our perspective at the club, you know, we've always looked at running, running the club sustainably, which does mean investment, it does mean, you know, commercial growth, but also looking at how we maintain that connection with our supporters and how we maintain that connection with the overall ethos of what Liverpool Football Club stands for.
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Bloomberg Host
Well just on that note, there have been reports that Liverpool is looking at bringing in minority investors. Is that the case at this moment?
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Billy Hogan
I can only refer back to the statement from, from FSG last week that we have been approached by a consortium that's led, managed and represented by Amit Bhatia for a strategic minority investment in the club. And I wouldn't say anything other than that at point.
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Bloomberg Host
What about. So you mentioned though that there are investments to be made. What specific areas would you be looking in with maybe outside capital or otherwise that you think that there might be dapps that could use an influx of cash?
- [05:24]
Billy Hogan
Well again I wouldn't refer to anything other than what FSG said. I mean from our standpoint as the CEO of the club my focus along with our team is on how we can generate revenue through the, through the mechanisms that we are currently expanding mentioned retail partnerships and how do we make sure that we continue to compete in the, in the biggest league in the world.
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Bloomberg Host
How do you think about investment in the talent itself? I know last summer it was a record amount spent bringing in three really star rising players. This summer you haven't really had any announcements. You also have Mo Salah on his way out too. Do you feel that pressure to kind of make another marquee signing?
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Billy Hogan
I think the pressure we always feel pressure, that's the, you know, that's part of being in football. But I think really from our standpoint if you look at the, you know, from a stewardship of Fenway Sports Group over the course of the last 16 years since John Henry, Tom Warner, Mike Gordon came in and purchased the club, the focus has always been on how do we improve the club to try and win trophies. Some summers there's been significant spends, other summers there hasn't and you know that correlated, that's correlated to the market, that's correlated to what the team needs and that's correlated to always doing what we think is in the best interest of Liverpool Football Club. And that's not going to change and
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Bloomberg Host
forgive me for this question because it's part of my, you know, tourist knowledge of the world of football. But it's always so interesting to me the different models where you have maybe a lower down club that kind of bets on unproven talent and then a big club like a Liverpool will come in and sort of buy that marquee talent when they've already been brought in will that ever change? Do you think that in a world where, you know, you did just last summer spend £466 million, that you might change the model and spend maybe more and take a bigger risk on rising talent?
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Billy Hogan
Well, there are, I mean, there are financial regulations and financial which have changed and we're actually entering a new phase of the squad cost ratio in the Premier League. So it'll be interesting to see over time how that those are positive changes. Yeah, we've always been in favor of financial regulations. I think that's something that, just from the standpoint of the overall competitive nature of football, I think that's important. And from a football club perspective, and this is frankly, across Fenway Sports Group, we've always been focused on running the club sustainably. So my responsibility on the business side, as I mentioned before, is to generate as much revenue as we can to reinvest back into the club. And whether that's on the pitch, into the team itself or whether that's infrastructure. With the expansion that we've made at Anfield, a new training ground, new new superstore, etc. You know, we've always focused on how do we run the club sustainably. So everything we generate goes back into, into the team and those decisions ultimately be made on the football side in terms of how that's invested. But again, all reporting back up to Mike Gordon, principally, but John Henry, Tom Warner, our ownership at fsg and obviously
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Bloomberg Host
results on the pitch are also incredibly important too. When you finish fifth, it's also a great thing because you can go the champions in the European competition. Financially it's still good, but it wasn't good enough to keep Arnie Slaughter. And I have to ask, ask for the football fans out there with a new manager coming in. Arnie Slott comes in, wins the title year one year to finishes fifth. What is the bar for the new manager for success?
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Billy Hogan
Well, look, from, from Endoni's perspective, having spent time with him obviously over the course of the first couple of weeks of his tenure here, he's incredibly excited to be here. He's obviously focused on, as we all are, on winning, but this is a transition and you know, he's going to need time for, you know, his work to be done on the pitch. That's what they're doing currently and in terms of preseason and the importance of the training aspect of preseason, but we're incredibly excited about, you know, his history and the way that his teams have played. And I think that sort of front foot attacking football is going to be Something that our, that our fan base and supporters are really excited about. And look, Arno was, you know, as you said, he's, he's going to go down in the history of Liverpool Football Club as having won the 20th Premier League title. And you know, nobody could take that away from him. He's a tremendous individual and a tremendous human being and we wish him well.
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Bloomberg Host
So Ariello gets a little bit, a little bit of time to make some magic happen.
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Billy Hogan
Everything takes time in football. Sometimes there's not as much. Let's, let's, let's let him get out there and do what he does again.
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Bloomberg Host
Really excited to watch the friendly tomorrow with Wrexham. Look, you already lead the Premier League in terms of revenue and you mentioned some of the growth opportunities, be it around commercial partners or otherwise. But as you look at sort of the long term, the next next five, ten years, what do you think is really the growth pillar for Liverpool?
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Billy Hogan
I think, you know, one of the areas that we're really focused on is our digital platforms. I mentioned earlier about the E Comm and the strength of the United States as a market, but also our ability to expand that. And so that's something that we're working really closely with a number of our partners. From a technology standpoint, UPS is a big partner of ours. So, so working with them as well to really look at how can we continue to grow that aspect and that, that's not just about retail, it's about content. It's about our digital engagement. We've got over 225 million followers across our social media platforms, which is 10 times the number that follow the Yankees. To put it into some perspective. So, you know, a massive digital platform that we have. And so looking at how do we, you know, how do we utilize that to benefit the supporter ultimately, how do we bring more content to them, how do we engage with them on a more direct basis basis. And so that's something that when you look at kind of five to 10 years out, that's something we're really focused on.
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Bloomberg Host
How do you balance? So I mean we started this was saying just, you know, Anfield has this incredible atmosphere. It's known for maybe it's more working class routes. How do you sort of balance, okay, having a more premium offering, having really interesting sort of suites and seats and that sort of experience and the higher costs that come with it, but still keeping to those roots that you have.
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Billy Hogan
Yeah, I think that's. First of all, it's a great question. It's something that we, that we look at all the time. We've gone through two different phases of redevelopment and expansion at Anfield. Going from when we first bought the club, we were just under 45,000. We've gone through two expansions to get us over 61,000. Now one of the biggest stadiums in the UK. With that comes the sort of business plan and return on investment and some of that has to be invested into hospitality in order to again allow us to reinvest back into the team and into the infrastructure. So we look very closely at, you know, what's the hospitality mix mix. And also from a GA perspective, you know, how we make sure that we still have affordable pricing and that's something that, you know, the club, we've just gone through a inflationary increase over into coming into this year, but prior to that we had frozen prices for 8 out of the prior 10 years. So that's something that we look at very seriously and we consider very seriously and it is something that we're looking every day at match day revenues and how we balance that.
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Bloomberg Host
So do you also have to very much so incorporate kind of live feedback from the fandom, which, which, I mean, football fans aren't exactly known for being calm and approaching things in an easy way.
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Billy Hogan
We get a lot of feedback and we get a lot of feedback, good and bad. But no, look, I think that's something that we've got, you know, from ownership on down, that's something that, you know, we have always taken very seriously. At Fenway Sports Group, we are stewards of Liverpool Football Club and that's something that we think, you know, this is a local football club that is rooted in Liverpool and that's something that's really important. And in fact, when we go out on tour, you know, tomorrow at Yankee Stadium when we're playing Wrexham, you know, you'll see banners that are exactly like what you'd see on the COP back at Anfield. And that's the connection that our supporters have, whether they're based in Liverpool or whether they're on the other side of the world. So I think that's something that we take very seriously. The community aspect of Liverpool Football Club is immensely important.
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Bloomberg Host
Billy, before I let you go, I also want to talk about the community work that you're doing here too, because it goes beyond Liverpool itself in the uk, but you are also investing in this community. Can you see just sort of describe some of the work you're doing there, charitable and otherwise?
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Billy Hogan
Yeah. So the Liverpool foundation, the LFC foundation, as I always say, they're the Hardest working people on tour. We have a number of representatives from the foundation that literally from dawn until dusk sometimes beyond, are running soccer schools and working with charitable organizations. We did so in Nashville, we're doing so this week in New York and then we'll do it in Chicago as well. We're working also with the Make a Wish foundation. So there'll be some folks from the Make a Wish coming to the, the hotel tonight to meet some of the team. You know, we think it's really important not just to come in and play a match and then leave. It's really important for the foundation to be here for us to create a connection to the community and to, and to give back. And there's opportunities for us to do that with different charitable organizations here in New York and across the different stops that we do. We always do that.
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Bloomberg Host
By the way, you're investing in local football schools here. Can, can the US ever produce like the top, top talent? I mean, they produce good players in the past, obviously, but so far behind, we see that every single World Cup.
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Billy Hogan
Look, I think the world, the World cup shows, I think on a, you know, on a global basis where the sort of talent level is. But at the same time, I think you've seen improvements over time. You know, as an American, although now a dual citizen, you know, it is one where, you know, I'm always cheering for them as well and, and I'd like to see more talent so that they can compete and ultimately win a World Cup. That would be incredible.
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Bloomberg Host
That would be indeed incredible. Billy, thank you for being so generous with your time. Really enjoyed seeing you again. Good luck for tomorrow's match. That's Billy Hogan, CE of the Liverpool Football Club and Fenway Sports Group International.
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4imprint Announcer
Whatever your goal, trade show, giveaways, client gifts or team gear, 4imprint has the promo products to match with thousands of options from apparel and drinkware to tech and totes. It's easy to find the right fit for your brand and budget. With standout choices at every price point and with their 360 degree guarantee, you can be four imprint certain your order will show up just right, right on time. Explore more@4imprint.com 4imprint for certain.