Red Sox Owner to Buy England's Liverpool Football Club

The board of England's Liverpool Football Club accepted a £300 million ($477 million) offer from New England Sports Ventures, owner of the Boston Red Sox.

"The board decided to accept NESV's proposal on the basis that it best met the criteria we set out originally for a suitable new owner," Liverpool Chairman Martin Broughton said in a statement on the club's website, according to Bloomberg News. "NESV's philosophy is all about winning and they have fully demonstrated that at the Red Sox."

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Liverpool is England's most successful soccer club, with 18 domestic championships and five European titles. Still, the club has not been champion of England in 20 years and is currently languishing in 18th position out of 20 clubs in the Premier League.

John W. Henry, a hedge fund billionaire, owns New England Sports Ventures. Besides controlling the Red Sox, it owns Fenway Park and New England Sports Network. Under Henry, the Red Sox have won the World Series twice in less than 10 years, after 86 years without a championship.

The deal for Liverpool is not done yet. The club's owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett say that offers received "dramatically undervalue the club" and that they will "resist any attempt" to sell without their consent.