An American takeover of English Soccer.

Hello, you're listening to the Marketplace Morning Report from the BBC World Service.

I'm Vivian Noona stepping in for Leana Bern.

Good morning.

The English Soccer Club Everton is close to being sold to the Miami-based investment firm,

777 Partners.

The club resumed discussions with the company after talks with New York-based MSP Sports Capital,

collapsed last month.

Should the deal be completed, it would mean half of the 20 Premier League teams would be American-owned.

But why the interest in Everton, which has suffered heavy financial losses and performed poorly on the pitch?

Here's Kieran McGuire, a football finance expert at the University of Liverpool.

I think there's the opportunity from the acquirer's point of view to get a bargain purchase.

And they are confident that they can turn it around.

If you listen to the pronouncements coming out from 777,

they say that English clubs and football in general is very poor at marketing itself compared to the NFL and the NBA.

They look at the profitability of those franchises,

but they do feel that the popularity of football isn't converted into money.

777 already owns a number of football clubs, including standard liage in Belgium.

Belgian football writer Frederick Blur covers their matches and says fans there aren't happy.

The upsets of the supporters is that they have the feeling that 777 don't invest enough in the team.

They invest to reduce the debts and the financial problems in the club.

Everton has also some financial problems.

...