The story broken overnight by the @WSJ, of FSG potentially merging with a recently formed group called Red Ball Acquisition Corporation, has got fans wondering about what this may mean for Liverpool. https://twitter.com/WSJ/status/1314714181803954183

Firstly, it is worth explaining what Red Ball is. It is known as a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC for short). This is a company that is set up to secure funding to invest in a project or entity. Red Ball have already raised $575m and are looking to raise a further $1bn

Red Ball was formed by private equity firm, RedBird Capital Partners, and the man behind the Moneyball concept, Billy Beane. RedBird have already ventured into football in Europe, buying a majority stake in Ligue 2 French outfit, Toulouse.

The story reports that the funds could be used to purchase a minority stake in FSG and form a merged entity that would then become a publicly traded company. To be clear, this would not mean that Liverpool would therefore become a public company- only its ownership group.

If this investment were to go ahead, it would help FSG achieve a long-held objective of selling a minority stake in the club (albeit this investment by Red Ball would also involve them owning a stake in the Boston Red Sox and other assets owned by FSG).

If that investment were to go purely to FSG with little to none of the funds being invested into the club itself (e.g. to redevelop Anfield or as funds that could help support player acquisitions), then this would bring negligible benefit to the club.

The story reports that, if this deal transpires, other clubs around Europe could be acquired and either a City Football Group or Red Bull type model could be developed, with smaller clubs acting as feeder clubs at which Liverpool's hottest prospects could be developed.

A key risk, from a fanbase perspective, is that if investors acquire a substantial minority stake in Liverpool then they may wish to see a return on their investment.

This return could potentially come through one of FSG's prime assets - Liverpool - being sold in subsequent years for a profit relative to Red Ball's investment, or it could be through dividends being paid to shareholders which would ultimately come from club revenues.

We would need to see more detail, but this new ownership structure would almost certainly not see Liverpool's owners invest directly into the club's operations in the way that many current Premier League owners do.

A network of feeder clubs could bring some benefits but there could be limitations with such a model (e.g. Liverpool feeling obliged to bring through players from its feeder clubs at the expense of other clubs) and there isn't much compelling evidence in this concept's favour.

On that basis, from the limited information available and based on how such SPACs operate, I would suggest that this isn't something for Liverpool fans to get excited about, and if anything, it might be a less favourable arrangement to the current one.