Posted by Heath Harshman

By Heath Harshman- WFD Fan Correspondent

News has been breaking almost constantly over the last 24-36 hours over the seemingly impending sale of Liverpool Football Club to a group of investors known as New England Sports Ventures (NESV). NESV own numerous sports entities such as NASCAR team Roush Fenway Racing (50% ownership), regional sports network New England Sports Network (80%), sports marketing company Fenway Sports Group (100%) and most notably Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox (100%). In the short time since this story has emerged tons of information on NESV and principal owner John Henry's finances have shown up. Therefore, I won't spend space on this column discussing that. To get that information Wednesday's WFD show featuring the Guardian's David Conn and Misha Sher from Soccerex did a splendid job of summing up much of the facts and background on NESV.

As an American, an adamant follower of Major League Baseball and a Liverpool supporter, I feel like Mr. Henry and NESV are, right now, as perfect an option as LFC could find. His track record in various major sports is immaculate and I believe that with what his past shows that Henry and NESV are exactly what are needed in Liverpool right now.

While American sports and the Premiership are not like for like, the MLB is as close to the EPL as any American sports league. The similarities between the two, while not exact, are obvious and a good sign that NESV have an idea of what they are in for. Such similarities are the lack of a salary cap and the minor league/academy systems that both leagues have.

Under Henry's ownership the Boston RedSox have constantly been near the top of the league in spending and team salary. While splashing cash is nice, (*cough* Man City *cough*) being a top spender while still spending wisely (*cough* NOT Man City *cough*) is even nicer, and under Henry the Red Sox have done just that.

Take this season for example. The Red Sox were big spenders in the off-season, signing four of the 14 highest paid free agents. All four have performed well, and were it not for key injuries to other big players throughout the season, would have been the key reasons for a playoff appearance.

As well as spending money wisely, the Red Sox have made other key moves that, in the end, see the Red Sox getting the better end of the deal. An example of this is trading away often inured Red Sox legend Nomar Garciaparra for shortstop Orlando Cabrera and first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz (pronounced: min-kay-vich, not sure why) in the 2004 season. Cabrera and Mientkiewicz were key components to the 2004 Red Sox World Series winning team which ended an 86-year championship drought. Other key trades in which Boston got the sweet end of the lollipop under Henry's reign include obtaining pitching ace Curt Schilling (google "Bloody Sock Game") for a handful of nobodies, getting rid of Manny "I can't field, I fake injuries, I don't hustle, I took performance enhancing drugs" Ramirez for all-star outfielder Jason Bay, and releasing Cy Young award winning pitcher Pedro Martinez at exactly the right time. All of the deals I mentioned involved big names, big money and big risks and in each situation the Red Sox were in the right, under Henry and NESV's ownership.

Of late, the Red Sox have also developed a lot of good young talent under NESV's watch. Minor league baseball, while not exactly an academy system, is fairly analogous to how young players are brought into the first team of a Premier League side. Boston players like 2008 AL MVP Dustin Pedroia, starting outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, starting pitchers Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester are all perfect examples of young players brought up through the minor leagues that have become every day starters. The number of good, young players on the Red Sox roster and in the organization proves that NESV acknowledge the importance of developing young talent and have the ability to do so.

Another key aspect of the ownership of NESV and Henry will be the stadium development. In various interviews on Wednesday Liverpool Chairman Martin Broughton stated that the ownership will get Liverpool Football Club a 60,000 seat stadium. He said it both confidently and with strength. I do not believe someone like Broughton, who has put his heart and soul into Liverpool over the last six months, would claim something like that lightly, considering the false promises of the former LFC regime.

Broughton makes this statement with confidence knowing, once again, the past record of NESV. Made up of "around 17 investors", according to Broughton in his Wednesday interview with the BBC, they have experience in both refurbishing and building new stadiums. The examples of this are the renovations of Fenway Park, where the Red Sox play. Henry and NESV have spent hundreds of millions of dollars over their reign (2001-present) renovating Fenway and have done a spectacular job. Proof of their work is the fact that during the course of this last MLB season the Red Sox reached an astounding record of 600 consecutive home sellouts, dating from 2003-now. Broughton also mentions, in the BBC interview, that a few of the other investors on the NESV board played a large part in the building of the Baltimore Orioles baseball stadium. With members of the investment group having experience in both building and renovating stadiums worth hundreds of millions of dollars Liverpool supporters should feel assured that the right decision for the club and where it plays will be made.

The brightest piece of the NESV and Liverpool puzzle is Henry's winning past. The Red Sox have won the World Series twice (2004, 2007) after not winning one since 1918 and Roush Fenway Racing drivers in NASCAR like Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle have all enjoyed great success, all with NESV playing a large role. For a club that hasn't won the Premiership in far too long and is off to its worst start in over half a century, having some winning pedigree at the highest level is surely a step in the right direction. This ownership group has been voted as the best in MLB by the readers of the Sports Business Journal in each of the past two years, and in 2009 Sports Illustrated selected this group as the number one ownership group in MLB.

The Red Sox and Liverpool FC are, on the surface, strikingly similar in a number of ways. Each team has a long and storied history spanning over a century of past feats and failures. Most notably both teams have endured/are enduring long stretches of not winning the thing they want the most. While Liverpool's current stretch of not raising the Premier League title looks like nothing compared to the Red Sox 86-year failure streak, I'm sure both sets of fans can relate. The fans, also, are a similarity. Each team has a similarly passionate fan base that take pride in their team and hold those responsible accountable.

Both franchises also had "Istanbul" moments. Liverpool's 3-0 halftime comeback against AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League Final drawing comparisons to Boston's comeback in the 2004 American League Championship Series in which they won four consecutive games against the arch rival New York Yankees, all on the brink of elimination, to reach the World Series. Oh, and they both have red as their main color.

Could it be that simple for Henry and NESV? It is the most emotionally intense color and stimulates a faster heartbeat and breathing, according to infoplease.com. Hopefully NESV can do just what the name of both of their franchise's colors implies and stimulate the heartbeat of a club in desperate need of just that.

In addition to being a weekly blogger for WFD, I write for the Washington State University student newspaper, The Daily Evergreen, where I have a weekly sports column. I am also the Washington State University men's basketball beat writer for Jim Basnight's college hoops blog on mynorthwest.com. You can find past pieces and follow my work not only for WFD but for The Daily Evergreen and mynorthwest.com by following me on twitter @heathharshman or adding me on facebook. Any feedback is welcome at heath_harshman@yahoo.com.