Elon Musk's Father Hints At Son's Interest In Liverpool, But Will Billionaire Bypass Manchester United For LeBron's Team?

Elon Musk, the world's richest man, could buy anything he wants, including professional sports teams. A new report, citing his father, suggests Musk is considering purchasing a soccer team, potentially turning his back on his childhood favorite.

What Happened: New comments from Musk's father Errol Musk have the billionaire connected with interest in buying English Premier League team Liverpool, a rival to Musk's favorite childhood club team Manchester United MANU.

"Oh yes, but that doesn't mean he's buying it," Errol Musk said in an interview with Times Radio. "He would like to, yes, obviously, anybody would want to. So would I."

The elder Musk declined to comment further, saying that the team would "raise the price," given news of the interest.

Errol Musk said the family has relatives in Liverpool and it is the birthplace of the billionaire's grandmother.

Fenway Sports Group, who owns Liverpool, has addressed the rumors with a comment on the matter.

"No truth to these rumors," a FSG spokesperson told the Associated Press.

FSG bought Liverpool in 2010 for around $380 million and has turned the team into one of the best in the English Premier League and all of Europe. The team won its first English league title in 30 years in 2020 and won the Champions League in 2019.

Liverpool is currently first in the English Premier League standings with 46 points, ranking ahead of Arsenal with 40 points. Musk's childhood favorite team Manchester United ranks 13^th with 23 points. Liverpool also leads the Champions League with six wins in six matches.

FSG sold a minority stake to Dynasty Equity, an investment firm, in 2023. The company said at the time that it would pursue investment partners if it was the right fit for Liverpool and the "financial resiliency and future growth" of the club. FSG also sold an 11% stake in the club to RedBird Capital Partners for $640 million in 2021.

Fenway Sports Group also owns the Boston Red Sox (MLB), Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL) a NASCAR racing team and other sports assets.

NBA star and billionaire LeBron James is a small owner of FSG, with a reported stake of more than 1% in the company. The stake came from converting his old 2% stake in Liverpool acquired in 2011 for a stake in the larger company.

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Why It's Important: While FSG has said that Liverpool is not for sale, the famous phrase "money talks" could come into play.

Musk is the world's richest man, worth an estimated $426 billion by Bloomberg. Musk added $203 billion to his wealth in 2024 thanks to soaring valuations for Tesla, SpaceX and xAI. The billionaire has so much money now that he could buy every MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL team based on reported team valuations, as Benzinga previously reported.

Musk joked about buying Manchester United in 2022, sending shares of the partially public EPL team higher.

"Also, I'm buying Manchester United, ur welcome," Musk tweeted at the time.

Musk later clarified that he wasn't serious and wouldn't buy any sports teams, calling the rumor a "long-running joke on Twitter."

"Although, if it were any team, it would be Man U. They were my fav team as a kid."

While people's favorite teams can change, and sometimes athletes have to play against teams they idolized as kids, one of the big questions is whether Musk would buy a team that is one of the biggest rivals of his favorite childhood teams.

Manchester United and Liverpool are around 35 miles apart, and their matches are often labeled as "Northwest Derby."

Sportico valuations list Manchester United as the most valuable soccer team in the world at $6.2 billion. Liverpool ranks fourth and second among EPL teams at $6.06 billion.

Musk paid $44 billion for Twitter and joked about buying media outlet MSNBC recently. The billionaire buying Liverpool would likely boost interest in the team and EPL, which could help out Comcast Corporation CMCSA, which has the U.S. media rights to EPL matches, and could also boost Paramount Global PARAPARAA, which has the rights to Champions League matches in the U.S.

Owning a soccer team like Liverpool could add to Musk's wealth over time, as it has for other billionaires. The ownership could also see Musk looking to revive the idea of a Super League, combining the top teams across European soccer leagues, to increase revenue opportunities for the best teams, an idea that upset fans when proposed in 2021.

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