Norwich City’s Premier League relegation opened the door to invest, admitted Mark Attanasio, and City’s joint minority shareholder confirmed he wants to expand his sports investment portfolio.

Attanasio and his Norfolk Holdings group deepened their financial commitment to the Canaries last season, as part of a restructure of debt mapped out in the Championship club's last set of published accounts.

The Milwaukee Brewers’ principal owner was recently linked with exploratory talks over taking a potential stake in Portuguese giants, Benfica.

Attanasio also joined forces with the likes of Fenway Sports Group, and Liverpool principal owner, John W Henry, in a multi-billion dollar commercial tie up with the US PGA golf tour.

Now the City director has discussed why he was initially attracted to the Canaries, and why future sports investment is a growth area, at a Bloomberg Invest conference in New York.

“What created the opportunity for us at Norwich City was relegation. The Canaries were relegated from the Premier League to the Championship. Out of adversity comes opportunity,” he said. “What I have taken from it is this team, this club, has been in existence for over 100 years.

"They have the oldest football song and what struck me, I really knew very little about football or soccer, I was the Ted Lasso of owners, but the fans were supporters. The way you engage with your supporters is meaningful.

“Almost if you are born in the east of England, in a county called Norfolk, you start wearing yellow and green. We’ve looked at taking that feeling and bringing it to Milwaukee, where we have a natural fan base who have grown up with the Milwaukee Brewers, and we have learned a lot of lessons from that.”

Attanasio was not asked about reported interest in Benfica, in a wide-ranging discussion, but did confirm he is keen to explore other investment opportunities.

“About 20 plus years ago, when I bought the Brewers, my wife, Debbie, came into the study one day and said, ‘You are not going to lose a lot of money are you?’ I had the Bank of America do a study that showed it would be somewhat recession-resistance,” he said.

“It sort of has been, Covid was a challenge in that respect, so we are looking at everything from women’s volleyball to professional sailing, and other leagues to invest in, but I think at some point there will be some sports that don’t make sense to me.

“I think the greatest opportunity, and at this stage I am not sure what the lane will be, but it is college sports. There are enormous revenue opportunities, and they are not organised yet. They are getting organised, we’ve made a totalled investment in a company involved in the big 12. So we’ll see.”

The US tycoon joined the Norwich board in September 2022, following initial contact with the Canaries during the previous Premier League relegation season, after purchasing a 22pc stake in a private transaction with former director Michael Foulger and family.

Attanasio's Norfolk Holdings were formally cleared by the Football League in April this year to complete an allotment process with the Canaries, which brought share parity with former joint majority shareholders Delia Smith and Michael Wynn Jones.

The businessman was joined on a select Bloomberg panel by Fenway Sports Group chairman Tom Werner. 

“The Premier League, and Mark is involved in English football, is a very popular sport, and sometimes we have that very narrow focus on the US,” he said. “Many more people watch a Liverpool versus Manchester United game than the Superbowl.

"Part of what we bring to all our investments is relationships with sponsors, because they fuel our growth. At Liverpool with UPS, Google and this week a new partnership with Japan airlines.

“I think, and Mark would agree, investing in sport as an asset-class has been demonstrated to be very attractive to investors. More and more people are investing in sports as an asset.

“We have partnerships with funds that have multiple sport investments. The fact is sports, as a part of life, is immensely important. It is one of the things that bring people together, there are revenue implications, and the live event business is booming. I am very optimistic about the future of sports, and teams, in a world where there is obviously scarcity value.”