Tottenham rivalling Paris Saint-Germain as £850m takeover opportunity revealed

Tottenham are now a global brand – and the latest developments from the United States show just how far they have come.

Daniel Levy and the rest of the Spurs hierarchy have made no secrets about their ambitions to grow the overseas profile of the club.

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This summer, Spurs will tour Japan. The impact of players from certain territories can occasionally be overstated, but Son Heung-Min has demonstrably helped the club soar in East Asia.

With the club to a certain extent limited in what they can earn from matchday and TV income, they have zeroed in on commercial revenue streams as a key growth area.

At £228m, Spurs’ commercial income was behind only the two Manchester clubs and Liverpool in the Premier League for the most recent financial year.

That will be monumentally attractive for investors.

Leyy revealed in April this year that he was courting investment with the help of the Rothschild bank, and finance expert Kieran Maguire told TBR this could be in the form of a full or partial Spurs takeover.

Many investors – particularly those from private equity or financial institutions sector – believe that clubs like Spurs are undervalued and represent a superb capital appreciation project.

But for investors to get a huge future return on their initial outlay, clubs need to discover new revenue streams.

Many analysts have earmarked the US market as the promised land of untapped commercial cash.

And the latest news from across the pond bodes well for Spurs’ hopes of supercharging their commercial income and, in doing so, enhancing their enterprise value.

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Spurs have 136 official supporters groups in the USA but – unlike every other member of the so-called Big Six – have not touted the country since 2018.

In fact, each of Man City, Man United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea have each visited the United States on multiple occasions since Spurs last did.

But, according to an in-depth report from football commercialisation experts CLV Group, Spurs could be set to return to America in 2025.

Significantly, the analysis found that Spurs’ ‘fandom’ in the US has grown by 15 per cent over the last financial year, second only to Paris Saint-Germain in terms of foreign clubs.

CLV Group also estimate that European clubs could extract a further £850m from the US market before the country co-hosts the 2026 World Cup.

Even if Spurs manage to squeeze an extra £10m from the US annually, that would likely increase their takeover value by £50-70m, based on the industry revenue multipliers average.

Naturally, that would be welcome by Levy and ENIC as they look to recoup maximum value for whatever stake in the club they are willing to sell.

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Levy was – almost certainly deliberately – vague in his choice language when revealing that he is actively looking for investment in the club, leaving open the possibility of a full or partial buyout.

Former Newcastle United co-owner Amanda Staveley has been linked with Tottenham.

She is said to have raised £500m through her investment vehicle PCP Capital Partners, which would only be enough for a minority stake in Spurs – likely somewhere between 15-25 per cent.

Four other groups have also been linked with a Spurs takeover, although some of those reports are more concrete than others.

At least one of those, MSP Sports Capital, is believed to have explored a full takeover.