Within a single week, Fenway Sports Group (FSG) sold 38 per cent of Liverpool to a consortium led by Amit Bhatia — which also includes Jeff Bezos and Eduardo Saverin — at a £5.5bn valuation, while former Disney chief Bob Iger and Donald Trump-linked Josh Kushner agreed to buy the LA Lakers for £9bn.

Both prices reset the market's reference points. The Lakers deal would make the franchise the most expensive NBA team ever sold, surpassing the $6.1bn paid for the Boston Celtics in 2025, and would end more than four decades of Buss family control that began with Jerry Buss's purchase of the club in 1979. Liverpool's £5.5bn valuation, meanwhile, compares with the roughly £300m FSG paid for the club in 2010.

The scale of the transactions is striking, but what stands out most is the people involved, argues Shahid Khan, senior partner and global head of media, entertainment, sports and culture at Arthur D. Little. Money has flowed into sport for decades from investors seeking status and returns. This cohort is different: its members have already built consumer technology and media businesses at scale, and they now regard sports franchises in the same way. Josh Kushner founded the venture capital firm Thrive Capital, while Bezos's Amazon already streams the NFL's Thursday Night Football alongside its new NBA package.

Part of the appeal is visibility. The NBA's $76bn media rights agreement with Disney, NBC and Amazon, which takes effect with the 2025-26 season, provides a decade of guaranteed cash flow on top of a potential growth asset. Beyond that, fan loyalty offers an unmatched customer base.

The LA Lakers, in particular, function as a content engine: at least 82 games each season produce continuous programming, complemented by venue, retail, hospitality, sponsorship and fan data operations. Iger spent more than two decades turning Disney's brand into recurring revenues — an approach that has not previously been applied in full to a franchise of this calibre.

Liverpool's more nuanced opportunity

Liverpool have far fewer match days, which widens the commercial gap and makes the opportunity more nuanced. The club generates £700m in revenue, but less than half of that comes from the commercial sector. Both Bezos and Saverin have built direct-to-consumer businesses at scale over their careers, while Bhatia brings more than two decades of hands-on football ownership experience, much of it built at Queens Park Rangers, where he served as vice-chairman. In this deal, FSG retains ownership and operational control.

More broadly, there is more money available to invest in sports assets than there are assets worth buying. The question is no longer who can pay, but who can operate and generate value. More sports properties will be evaluated like any other consumer or media business, although this shift did not begin with the LA Lakers or Liverpool deals. The sector has been maturing for decades through rising media rights packages, business management and institutional capital, with recent markers including Sir Jim Ratcliffe's minority investment in Manchester United in 2024 and FSG's own sale of a stake to RedBird Capital Partners in 2021 — an investor whose holdings include AC Milan. FSG itself already operates a multi-team portfolio spanning the Boston Red Sox and the Pittsburgh Penguins. On this view, the two deals establish a benchmark for others to compare themselves to.

Before that benchmark is formally set, both transactions must clear league processes: the Premier League's owners' and directors' test for the Liverpool share sale and the NBA Board of Governors' approval for the Lakers purchase.

Shahid Khan is a senior partner and global head of media, entertainment, sports and culture at Arthur D. Little.