Fenway Sports Group Wants To Add NBA Team -- And More -- To Portfolio
BOSTON (CBS) -- Fenway Sports Group recently acquired the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins. The Red Sox' ownership does not intend to stop there.
In an interview with The Boston Globe, Gerry Cardinale -- founder of RedBird Capital Partners, which invested $750 million in FSG last year -- laid out the ambitions of the group with regard to adding more teams to the portfolio.
"I would be very disappointed if I don't significantly increase the amount of capital that we've invested in Fenway to date for more opportunities," Cardinale told Michael Silverman. "I hope and I think we're going to have that opportunity to do so. That's what buying into that platform should be all about."
Cardinale said that adding an NBA team is "a real top priority" for FSG. The group would also like to own an NFL team, a WNBA team, a cricket team, and another soccer team (FSG already owns Liverpool FC).
"Everything's in play I would say, but as usual, we're going to have a very strict funnel," Cardinale told Silverman. "The bar has never been higher in terms of what really fits in the [FSG] portfolio. You should think about us looking to add other teams and the businesses around them. You should look at us building businesses within the platform itself, like I've done in my career at RedBird and Goldman, and you should look at continuing to evaluate the constructs."
Obviously, there's no schedule for professional sports teams becoming available to purchase. But just like with the Penguins, FSG appears poised to pounce on whichever opportunity presents itself next in the realm of pro sports.