American private equity group RedBird Capital Partners will become the owners of Italian giants AC Milan but the addition of minor investors should increase the popularity of the Rossoneri.
RedBird has acquired the reigning Serie A champions for a reported figure of €1.1 billion from the Elliott Management Corporation, and the minor stakeholders include Yankee Global Enterprises, the parent company of baseball team New York Yankees, as well as American basketball legend LeBron James and Canadian rapper Drake.
LeBron and Drake are involved with Main Street Advisors, an investment firm based in Los Angeles, and this is the second time they have paired up after investing in sports technology company StatusPRO in November 2021.
Yankees president Randy Levine revealed his excitement on Tuesday and he is confident that the RedBird acquisition as well as the connection with the MLB giants can be beneficial for AC Milan financially.
“We’re very confident that the Yankee brand is the most famous sports brand in the world, and we think we can help boost the revenue of AC Milan by being associated with it,” Levine said.
LeBron and Drake can help AC Milan’s image
RedBird has a stake in the Fenway Sports Group, which owns English giants Liverpool, but they will have more control of what they do at AC Milan.
Although they will be the majority shareholders, having the additional investors on board can only enhance the appeal of the club.
Having Yankee Global Enterprises involved should bring new supporters who might not have watched football previously or have had limited exposure to the sport. Despite only being passive investors and not having a direct stake in the Rossoneri, just knowing that LeBron and Drake are involved should improve the image of the club for the better.
Can LeBron and Drake’s investment help Italian football?
European football is becoming more globalised year after year and numerous European clubs have foreign investors. Italian football is still lacking in foreign investment and Serie A is nowhere near as strong as it was during its heyday of the 1980s and 90s.
A strong AC Milan can only be good for Italian football and if they can become a force in Europe again thanks to RedBird as well as the presence of the Yankees, LeBron, and Drake, then it might persuade more foreign businessmen to invest in calcio and for the league to gain new fans.
