RedBird Capital Investor Gerry Cardinale Rues Missed Opportunity to Buy Liverpool for £288 Million in 2008

Liverpool Football Club is currently valued at £4.36 billion, making it the fourth most valuable football team in the world according to Forbes. The club was purchased by Fenway Sports Group (FSG) for £300 million just 13 years ago, and in March 2021, FSG sold a £533 million stake in their company to RedBird Capital, equating to 11 percent and giving them an indirect tie to Liverpool.

However, it could have been different had the founder and managing partner of RedBird Capital Partners, Gerry Cardinale, had his way back in 2008. He had recommended a $350 million (£288m in today’s money) purchase of the club while working for Goldman Sachs – an investment bank. While indirectly involved with the club some 15 years later, he does still rue what could have been with Liverpool FC.

“I created the YES Network with [George] Steinbrenner when I was 33 years old, so the advice to my 33-year-old self would have been the inkling that we had a few years later to go buy Liverpool at a $350 million valuation,” he said at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. “Goldman (Sachs) shut me down on that, and we would have done that a lot earlier and that would have been pretty good.”

This is a sliding doors moment for Liverpool and Cardinale, an FSG investor, now has Liverpool on his portfolio alongside RedBird’s stakes in Ligue 1’s Toulouse and AC Milan. The Reds meet Toulouse in the Europa League this season – the French side are back in European football after a 13-year absence.

Cardinale has been involved in their rise and is another who has been heavily influenced by Moneyball founder Billy Beane – also a friend of John W Henry – saying he is a “big believer” in the methods. “You can do European football if you approach it with the ‘Moneyball mentality’,” he explained. “That’s great because that basically says you don’t have to sacrifice performance on the field for cash flow or vice versa.”

The Moneyball mentality is one that has been adopted by many clubs around the world, and it is clear that Cardinale is a big believer in its success. He has seen first-hand how it can be used to transform clubs from small teams into European powerhouses, and it is clear that he still regrets not being able to use it to purchase Liverpool back in 2008.

It is impossible to know what would have happened had Cardinale been able to purchase Liverpool back then, but it is clear that he still rues the missed opportunity. He has seen first-hand how the Moneyball mentality can be used to transform clubs from small teams into European powerhouses, and it is clear that he still regrets not being able to use it to purchase Liverpool back in 2008.

It is impossible to know what would have happened had Cardinale been able to purchase Liverpool back then, but it is clear that he still rues the missed opportunity. He has seen first-hand how the Moneyball mentality can be used to transform clubs from small teams into European powerhouses, and it is clear that he still regrets not being able to use it to purchase Liverpool back in 2008.

Nevertheless, Cardinale now has Liverpool on his portfolio alongside RedBird’s stakes in Ligue 1’s Toulouse and AC Milan. The Reds meet Toulouse in the Europa League this season – the French side are back in European football after a 13-year absence.

Cardinale has been involved in their rise and is another who has been heavily influenced by Moneyball founder Billy Beane – also a friend of John W Henry – saying he is a “big believer” in the methods. “You can do European football if you approach it with the ‘Moneyball mentality’,” he explained. “That’s great because that basically says you don’t have to sacrifice performance on the field for cash flow or vice versa.”

It is clear that Cardinale still regrets not being able to use the Moneyball mentality to purchase Liverpool back in 2008, but he has seen first-hand how it can be used to transform clubs from small teams into European powerhouses. He now has Liverpool on his portfolio alongside RedBird’s stakes in Ligue 1’s Toulouse and AC Milan, and he is another who has been heavily influenced by Moneyball founder Billy