Tom Brady spots an opening in English football

Throughout the week, tired players, executives and backroom staff from top European football teams have been landing back at home after their long-haul summer tours.

Manchester United, Borussia Dortmund, Real Madrid and Juventus were among those who headed to the US, where the football world is doing all it can to seduce Americans ahead of the 2026 World Cup. European football bosses are bullish about the opportunity there — some even believe soccer could be bigger than baseball in a decade’s time.

A smaller group of top clubs went east. Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain made appearances in Japan; City added a stop in South Korea to face Atlético Madrid, while Bayern dropped in to Singapore to play Liverpool.

These tours serve two purposes — building up a global fan base (for the club, the league and the sport), and generating some cash. Wary of the increasing gravitational pull of North America, Asian promoters are fighting back. According to L’Equipe, PSG ditched plans for a US tour after being offered €20mn to divert to Japan instead.

This week we’re looking at two superstar moves — Tom Brady’s first foray into football, and the elevation of Tiger Woods on to the PGA Tour’s board. Do read on — Josh Noble, sports editor

Tom Brady, the hedge fund, and the football dream

This week the NFL’s most successful quarterback in history teamed up with a New York hedge fund in a bid to revive the fortunes of an English football club down on its luck.

Tom Brady, who recently retired, will lead an advisory board helping Birmingham City with health, nutrition and global commercial opportunities, after becoming a minority investor in the Blues. How much money he might be putting in is unclear.

Brady is joining a rescue mission. Birmingham City was relegated from the Premier League more than a decade ago, and has since then lurched from one problem to another. In 2014, its then-owner Carson Yeung ended up in prison after being found guilty of money laundering by a Hong Kong court.

Supporters are hoping that a new dawn has broken. Last month Knighthead Capital bought a 46 per cent stake in club from two Asian investors, and purchased St Andrews stadium, the club’s home ground. The vehicle used to make those acquisitions is Shelby Companies Ltd, a nod to the BBC drama Peaky Blinders set in the UK’s second-biggest city.

Although the US fund has yet to secure an outright majority of shares, it has taken effective control of the club’s operations with co-founder Tom Warner becoming chair. One of his first moves was to install Garry Cook, a sports industry heavyweight, as chief executive. “There is unlimited potential here”, said Cook, a life-long Birmingham City fan, on Friday.

Knighthead’s back catalogue of investments includes its bold (and highly successful) bet on Hertz, the then bankrupt rental car company. That gamble by Knighthead and fellow investor Certares Management proved to be one of the most lucrative hedge fund trades of 2021.

The fund, which has around $9.5bn in assets, describes itself as an expert in “event driven, distressed credit and special situation opportunities”. How that translates to the fickle world of football is not yet clear.

Brady, who has worked with Knighthead before on other sports projects, said this week: “I’ve been part of some amazing teams in my day, and I’m looking forward to applying my perspective to create that same success here in Birmingham.”

That is easier said than done. Plenty of ambitious investors have spotted gold in England’s second tier, only to find the going tough once the whistle blows. The average wage bill in the league has outstripped revenue for several years now, as clubs chase the dream of promotion to the riches of the Premier League.

Birmingham City have been one of the division’s weaker sides for a while. The team finished 17th last season, and haven’t made it into the top half of the table since 2016.

As last season showed, money alone doesn’t guarantee anything. The Championship play-off final pitted Luton Town against Coventry City, both teams with far smaller playing budgets than many of their rivals.

The combination of Brady, Knighthead and Cook looks potent. But there are plenty of hard yards ahead.

How Saudi golf deal strengthens Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods was already the world’s most influential golfer, but this week his power grew even further after he joined the PGA Tour’s policy board.

The move, the result of the PGA Tour’s secret deal with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and the resultant backlash, gives the players six board seats. There are five independent directors, including chair Ed Herlihy and Wall Street power broker Jimmy Dunne, the duo who negotiated the Saudi tie-up.

Officially, Woods has earned $120mn on the PGA Tour, but Forbes reckons he’s a billionaire thanks to endorsements and investments. That kind of wealth grants influence, but joining the board gives him power in the room where decisions are made.

Woods’ role isn’t cosmetic. He’ll play a key part as the players work with the PGA Tour to rewrite the policy board’s governing documents to “make it clear that no major decision can be made in the future without the prior involvement and approval of the player directors”.

Woods revitalised golf in the late 20th and early 21st century, — winning 15 majors, taking him to within three of Jack Nicklaus’s record. He also hosts the $20mn Genesis Invitational PGA Tour event in Los Angeles.

It’s also hard to imagine Jay Monahan continuing at the helm of the PGA Tour without approval from Woods, who said he has “confidence” in the commissioner “moving forward with these changes”. Monahan came under intense pressure after it emerged that he had kept the Saudi talks from players despite warning them not to join LIV.

Despite Woods’ injury struggles following a car accident more than two years ago, the Saudis were all too aware of his influence, even offering to hand him his own team on their LIV Golf circuit to win his approval for their deal with the PGA Tour.

The 47-year-old had long resisted the temptation to join the likes of Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson on breakaway team-based competition LIV, even turning down a nine-digit financial package.

Woods’ elevation to the board suggests that the players will fight their corner as the Tour thrashes out the terms of a deal with Saudi’s $650bn Public Investment Fund.

Tiger and other player directors will have “the authority to approve — or to decline to approve — any potential changes to the Tour as part of the Framework Agreement discussions”.

And that’s why it’s now up to PIF to convince Woods that it’s a good deal.

Highlights

• Manchester United sealed a 10-year extension to its kit deal with Adidas, a partnership that is now set to run until at 2035 at the earliest. The contract is worth at least £90mn a year for United, an increase from the current deal of £75mn a year.

• Chelsea FC’s US owners have held talks with investors, including Ares Management, over a potential fundraising that could help finance stadium upgrades or the purchase of other clubs across the world.

• Transfer spending by Saudi Arabian football clubs has surged past €400mn, putting the country ahead of all the big football markets bar the English Premier League this summer.

• Next season will see Bay FC join the professional women’s football league in the US. Aly Wagner, a former player on the US women’s national team, explains how she got the project off the ground with the help of a new funding model.

• Wolverhampton Wanderers chair Jeff Shi has sought to reassure fans that Fosun, the club’s Chinese owner, is not looking to exit. “The club is a long-term project and an important one for Fosun,” he said in an open letter. Questions around Wolves’ finances have swirled for months as the once big-spending club has tightened its belt to meet spending rules.

• The Commonwealth Games suffered another blow after the Canadian city of Alberta ditched its bid for the 2030 event, citing cost pressures.

• USA Gymnastics inked a five-year partnership deal with Nike that will cover both the Paris and Los Angeles summer Olympic Games.

Transfer Market

• Ajax has named Alex Kroes as its new chief executive and chair. Kroes, a former youth academy player at the club, succeeds Edwin van der Saar, who stepped down following a disappointing season. Kroes has been working in the Holland’s Eredivisie league since 2019, where he was previously a shareholder at Go Ahead Eagles, and held an executive position at AZ Alkmaar.

Final Whistle

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The moment Morocco discovered they reached the round of 16! 🤲#FIFAWWC #beINWWC23 #beINSPIRED pic.twitter.com/3ahjakS2YZ

— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS_EN) August 3, 2023

The Women’s World Cup is offering up plenty of shocks and surprises. Germany and Brazil both crashed out at the group stages, while pre-tournament favourites USA have looked lacklustre. Bookies now make injury-hit England the most likely winners.

While big teams have faltered, some unexpected winners have emerged. Three African teams have made it into the round of 16, including the Atlas Lionesses of Morocco. Here’s the moment they found out their 1-0 victory over Colombia was enough to put them into the next round.