The launch of the latest line of merchandise from Liverpool and Nike has seen the relationship play one of its ace cards.
Liverpool chairman Tom Werner had hinted at new lines being worked on between basketball icon LeBron James, Nike and Liverpool, and earlier this week the reveal of those lines happened, with James promoting the range to his 200m social media followers with a simple 'YNWA' message.
Stepping out at the Crypto.com Arena earlier this week ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers' clash with the LA Clippers, James was sporting a custom Liverpool kit and some Liverpool-styled Air Max 1s, two items set to be part of the highly-Liverpool x LeBron collaboration.
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It was the latest step in a partnership that Fenway Sports Group, who are mulling their options over Liverpool when it comes to seeking outside investment, believe will provide them with unique leverage to better grow the brand of the club in North America and make it more appealing to those who may not even be Reds or indeed football fans.
The relationship between Liverpool and James goes back some 11 years. When Fenway Sports Management, part of the Fenway Sports Group empire, wanted James to become a client of theirs in 2011, the basketball icon had plenty of suitors as the heir apparent to Michael Jordan. He was someone who wanted to invest his money and take meaningful ownership as opposed to being simply handed a big cheque.
FSG chiefs made the call to grant a James request, that he be handed a two per cent stake in Liverpool as part of the deal, something that held a value of around £4.5m. Fast-forward a decade to March 2021 and that two per cent was accreted into one per cent of FSG's overall operations at the same time that RedBird Capital Partners came on board with a $750m investment for 11 per cent of the Reds ownership.
With the FSG empire now worth more than $10bn, James' decision has paid off and that £4.5m has turned into around £100m. During the past decade a number of investments, from his creation of his SpringHill Entertainment company with Maverick Carter to his investments in Blaze Pizza, not to mention his Nike sponsorship and annual salary from his various NBA teams, presently the Los Angeles Lakers, means that he became the first active NBA player to become a billionaire, an achievement even Jordan didn't manage to unlock.
James is now 38 and attention for him around what happens after he finishes playing has been going on for more than 10 years. He wants to be an NBA team owner, and he will likely get that opportunity if FSG get their wish in the next couple of years and acquire an NBA expansion franchise in Las Vegas.
The question from this side of the Atlantic has often been what does James bring to Liverpool aside from a link to a superstar. Is there a value in such a partnership beyond the optics?
James is likely to have a more prominent role within FSG in the future, certainly if and when he does helm an NBA project. But his star power in the US cannot be understated, with his Instagram following of more than 140m the biggest of any US athlete, although some way behind Cristiano Ronaldo's 450m global lead.
But it is his popularity in the US that is key for FSG and Liverpool, and with James being Nike's biggest client, and with Liverpool one of Nike's key team clients, there is a simpatico relationship where there are mutual benefits by leveraging the power of both the man and the club.
The focus for many years for Premier League clubs was on the Asian market, something that has prompted many a pre-season tour to the Far East, and while that market remains of huge importance, the US market has started to mature and become fertile ground for clubs as the sport has grown. With the MLS enjoying growth in popularity, US fans having spending power greater than some other large territories, and some fans latching on to the game for the first time, there is the chance for clubs to generate new fans, ergo creating new revenue streams and opening up greater markets for commercial activity.
James' influence is something that FSG feels gives them leverage in that market.
Neil Joyce, co-founder of the CLV Group, a firm that works with football clubs and other industries to help them unlock incremental value in their fans and customers, told the ECHO recently: "I think the concept of it is super smart.
"In the US you have people who have an affinity for soccer but may not have a club. Those same people may not be a Los Angeles Lakers fan but they might be a LeBron James fan, or a follower of his on Instagram. You have immediately dropped through trying to migrate a Lakers fan to support Liverpool.
"I think that is the way a lot of this goes, the talent angle. Whether it is another sporting talent or a music artist, I think it is an interesting exercise for lots of clubs to go through to try and unlock global fanbases.
"You look at the success of what (Heung-Min) Son's appeal in Korea has had at Tottenham. It is obvious in some respects but you have to activate against it and it is a case of what stars or artists have a really strong correlation with the core value of your club and what their audiences look like. It is almost a multi-layered approach to bring together LeBron James' fan base with Liverpool's fan base in the US and other markets.
"The jury is still out on just how successful that is but as a concept it makes a lot of sense and I think that it is a really smart way to try and unlock and engage with those global audiences."
There is something of a race against time for English clubs.
The flood of US capital into the Premier League, where now almost half of clubs either have a US owner or significant American investment, means that the opportunity that potentially exists across the Atlantic is something that won't be lost on many top-flight English clubs. With Liverpool in play as an investment opportunity, there is a lot of capital from the US that sees them as an enticing proposition.
For years there has been the hope that football in the US would take off given the potential economic benefits that exist this side of the pond. Where the UK audience looks to the US when they follow a basketball or American football team, the UK wants the US audience to look at them in the same way, where avidity is created around Premier League teams.
But with the MLS having bagged a significant multi-year broadcast deal on the Apple streaming platform, and with more and more clubs able to sell out grounds, with new franchises set to come on board in the future, there is a need for English clubs to try and capture that audience before the MLS does.
"The US market should be getting renewed vigour," explained Joyce. "There has been so much focus on Asia just because of the scale of the size of the populations there, but the US has a high propensity for growth.
"The World Cup is there in 2026 and the MLS is starting to mature. It's going to be fascinating post this next World Cup. You look at some of the conversations we have had around using the data and insights around the fans and the audience.
"It is kind of like a spiders web but at the same time quite simple. It can take just take a start like LeBron James to bring his fan base and associate it with your club to open up an audience."
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