Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei has revealed that the owners of Formula 1 have “looked” into buying multiple Premier League teams, with the belief that “sport in general is attractive”.
F1’s owners have reportedly looked into purchasing Liverpool, Manchester United or Tottenham, with all three considered as part of the ‘Big Six’.
Liberty Media have certainly done an exceptional job since purchasing the pinnacle of motorsport in 2017, as F1 has become bigger than ever before through their ownership.
The sport is booming across the globe, most notably in the Middle East and in North America.
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A lot of the sport’s recent growth has come thanks to Netflix docuseries ‘Drive to Survive’, which has increased F1’s American audience in particular.
So many places are enquiring about hosting a race, to the extent where the calendar could easily consist of 30 races should every offer get accepted.
F1 is reportedly now worth £17 billion, meaning that when Liberty Media do eventually decide to sell the sport, they’ll make a significant profit.
The American company is seemingly looking into investing into the Premier League in England, by purchasing a team.
Interestingly, F1 has recently announced a partnership with Tottenham, which is going to see an electric karting track built underneath the state-of-the-art Tottenham Hotspur stadium.
Whether Liberty Media do actually buy a Premier League team remains to be seen; however, it’s something they have pondered.
“You mention the Premier League teams; there isn’t an asset we haven’t looked at,” Maffei admitted on the Walker webcast.
“That doesn’t mean we’ve been ready to buy them all but we look at everything because we do think sports in general is attractive.”
Liberty Media do already have a large stake in a sporting franchise, with the company having a stake in American baseball team the Atlanta Braves.
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They’ve held the significant stake since 2007, with Liberty Media believing they can “replicate” their success with the Atlanta Braves and F1 in the Premier League.
“I believe we have the best management team in baseball creating both a great on-field product at a reasonable price with a long-term future and young players who are well set up on contracts,” Maffei added.
“The demonstrated success of Formula One, we now have – credit them – a reputation sports and others we have talked to, we can replicate that.”