American money pours into European soccer as club valuations soar
Manchester United FC and 25 May 2025, Manchester, Kobie Mainoo from Manchester United during the Premier League match in Old Trafford in England.
Alex Livesey | Getty Images
European football, 2023-2024 season, 20.4 billion euros (23.7 billion dollars) revenue climbing clubs in the best league, a larger job than ever-and American investors are watching a part of this pie.
US investors are now fully or partially owned by the football teams in the Premier League of England. This was now four of the traditional Big Six club that attracted US investment with Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal.
Rapid growth in revenues has been lock attraction.
In the 1996-97 season, when the Premier League was founded in the UK, the total revenues in the five largest European leagues were 2.5 billion euros. Deloitte analysis.
In 2023-24, this figure is 750%balloon.
This growth has led to sharp increase in values for Europe’s largest football teams. The Glazer family, also the owner of NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, acquired Manchester United in 2005 for £ 790 million ($ 1.07 billion). In 2024, a minority share sales to billionaire Jim Ratcliffe fixed the club to about £ 5 billion or the largest value in world football.
Liverpool University Football Finance Associate Professor Kieran Maguire, CNBC on Wednesday, said that the rising levels of the US ownership in European football were directed by a higher reserve gathering province.
“Actually a little brainless … What else can you do with your cash? You can only have too many helicopters, you can only have too many super yachts.”
According to Maguire, the small number of best professional sports teams contributed to the increasing demand, and investors could not call the Multi-Milyar Dollar price tags of the USA NFL or NBA teams as an alternative.
Private capital
According to PitchBook Research, more than 36 clubs in the largest five leagues in Europe have private capital, venture capital or private debt participation through majority or minority shares, including the majority of clubs in the Premier League.
Data has increased sharply in European football clubs in 2018 from 66.7 million euros to about 2.2 billion euros in 2024 in 2024.
Many private capital investors in football have looked at the many club ownership model to increase their investments. Speaking with CNBC Pitchbook Senior EMEA Private Capital Analyst Nicolas Moura, many US investors want to “create various different football clubs” and the model may have marketing and financial benefits, he said.
However, the increasing prevalence of the ownership of many clubs took the risk of the regulators and said that the European football organ UEFA “began to fall into clubs”, he said.
This summer, Britain’s Crystal Palace is participating in the UEFA Europa League contest due to violation of the rules of handling. American businessman John Textor has a shares that are entitled to competition in the British club and France in Lyon.
Moura said that Crystal Palace, which is labeled as “injustice”, can become more problems as it goes into the best parts of Europe, more clubs.
What’s next?
The growth of football revenues has slowed down in recent years and Deloitte said that he came behind the growth of the slowdown of sports media rights in 2025-26 season.
As clubs tried to use stadiums for new sponsorship agreements and use stadiums for non-Sokcer, the main driver left a 6% increase in Deloitte 2023-24 season.
Moura says that many US private capital investors want to make their stands and all stadiums “to get away from broadcast revenue.
The search for growth in commercial and match -day revenues can see more clubs that organize regular matches abroad. Spain’s La Liga, the current champions in Miami’nın Villareal in Miami’de preparing to play the first normal season match abroad this season. Italy’s Serie A is also thinking about an international game and the country’s administrative body approves plans for a match in Australia. So far, the games in the domestic leagues have not been allowed to play outside their own country, the global administration body FIFA thinks that there is an official change in the rules of overseas matches.
Maguire said that the Premier League clubs will try to organize games abroad to compete with rival European leagues at the end of the clubs and that the money produced would mean “the games will be sold to the fan base”.
The Premier League did not publicly entertain the idea of getting regular season games from the UK, CEO Richard Masters said that the league was “very different” when it comes to international games to CNBC.
