Liverpool and Newcastle owners in talks with £100m off-pitch deal already agreed

The owners of Liverpool and Newcastle United are currently engaged in talks over what would be a blockbuster business deal in the world of sport.

Apart from the two groups both being extraordinarily wealthy, the respective ownership approaches of the Saudi Public Investment Fund and Fenway Sports Group could not be further apart.

FSG are intent on sustainable growth with a view to one day being able to make a huge return on their initial £300m investment – and they could already get around 10 times that figure.

Newcastle on the other hand are being forced to raise operating income in order to comply with Premier League PSR, meaning their operation is, to an extent, approaching more of a self-funding model.

However, PIF’s intentions at St James’ Park are to raise their global profile, and in a PSR-free worlds they would be willing to bankroll huge losses to achieve that.

But the two groups do have some things in common when it comes to their investment projects, as illustrated by the latest news about talks between the parties.

FSG and PIF in ongoing talks about LIV-PGA merger

The Saudis are not only disrupting the world of football.

One of their biggest going concerns is their attempt to merge their rebel LIV Golf tour with the PGA Tour, the traditional overseer of the sport.

FSG have an interest here as they led a group who bought a £2.4bn stake in the PGA tour earlier this year.

As reported by The Mirror, talks between the PGA and LIV are still ongoing, albeit in private.

The two groups recently met in New York to engage about a possible merger of the two tours. That was the latest development in a business saga that has had many twists and turns.

Again, Liverpool and Newcastle’s owners have the same targets but with wildly different motivations.

FSG are looking to diversify their sports investment portfolio and take a stake in yet another capital appreciation project, while PIF are hoping to further insert itself into Western sports culture.

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What does the LIV-PGA news mean for Liverpool?

While a PGA-LIV merger would not have a direct impact on the two clubs, it could have less linear knock-on consequences in terms of governance.

The merger would not reach the threshold for the Premier League to consider it a conflict of interest between the two teams.

After all, there are dozens of examples of owners of Premier League clubs having shared interests in their various business portfolio.

Take the relationship between Newcastle and Chelsea’s owners, for example. PIF have invested with Todd Boehly’s Clearlake Capital and run a number of projects together.

If the two entities did merge, it could create potential opportunities for branding and sponsorship at either club.

Liverpool might want to make particular use of this given that Dynasty Equity, who are minority investors in the club, have existing links to golf through their £100m partnership with TMRW, the sports tech firm fronted by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

It could also affect the two groups’ long-term strategic goals, although any difference for Newcastle’s owners would be negligible given the vast scale of their wealth.

One other, less easily quantifiable impact of a merger could be that it establishes a closer relationship between Liverpool and Newcastle.

In an era when voting blocs and governance-level influence are becoming increasingly important within the Premier League, this could be a symbiotic arrangement for the two clubs.