FSG’s motivations for Liverpool to join ESL clear as Reds stood to gain huge financial boost

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FSG’s interest in bringing Liverpool into a European Super League would have allowed the club to potentially benefit from enhanced broadcasting rights.

Theoretically, it would allow clubs like Liverpool and Manchester United to financially capitalise on their significant fanbases.

“Is this tournament definitely going ahead? I don’t think anyone can say that,” said Kieran Maguire on The Bottom Line podcast (via the Echo).

“Because UEFA want to sell TV rights in one block, this, I think, is the critical issue for clubs. But can this be used to get more from UEFA? Yes.

“One of the key issues as far as they are concerned is that the franchise clubs want to be able to sell some of their own broadcast rights for these matches.

In the proposed franchise, there are two divisions of 10 and therefore each club has nine home matches.

“Three of those home matches would be able to be sold by the club direct to the consumer – effectively on a pay-per-view basis.”

READ MORE: ‘You can’t have it both ways’ – Replacing FSG wouldn’t make any sense, says John Barnes

Given the clear, quantifiable financial impact that would have come part and parcel with signing up for the controversial breakaway league, one can glean the motivations behind FSG’s involvement in the talks.

“Quite simply, by selling their own rights, Liverpool and FSG’s investment can almost exponentially increase,” Matt Addison wrote. “The numbers, it appears, were originally deemed colossal enough to make the inevitable backlash worthwhile.”

Regardless of the numbers, we can’t overlook the inevitable costs such a move would incur – to the fans, the club’s history and to the sport as a whole.

The supporters spoke and FSG listened, to their credit, though the owners have since run out of chances to prove that their loyalty lies with the fanbase.

While tempting, the solution at this point in time (without wider reforms) isn’t to kick our American owners out of the club, though John Henry and co. have a long, long way to go before proving themselves even vaguely worthy of trust once more.

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