A finance football expert believes that Will Ferrell’s presence at Elland Road for the match between Leeds United and Burnley is sure to be a “positive” for the Whites.
In May, it was reported that Ferrell had come on board as a minority investor at Elland Road, joining fellow actor Russell Crowe, golfers Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, and Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.
Before the match against Burnley, the Hollywood A-lister shared how the chance to invest in Leeds came about.
“[Investing in Leeds) came about through a friend of mine who is part of the investor group who was also in a move with me,” Ferrell told LUTV. “The very famous Semi-Pro in which I played Jackie Moon.
“It was a movie about the American Basketball Association (ABA) which is defunct basketball league and Pete Cornell was part of the cast and he emailed me saying that he was going to possibly invest and they had asked if I would be interested. I spoke with the chairman Paraag (Marathe) and next thing you know I was like ‘please, sign me up.’”
Will Farrell has put a spotlight on Leeds
Over the last couple of years, many in football have seen the spotlight a club gets when it’s tied to Hollywood celebrities or athletes. Wrexham is the prime example of many taking an interest in the Welsh club, and that could be possible with Leeds, too.
Football finance expert Dan Plumley acknowledges that it’s tough to measure Ferrell’s attendance’s exact impact on Leeds United. However, he believes it definitely benefited the club by putting a “spotlight” on Farke’s team and helping them reach a new audience.
“It definitely does have an impact,” Plumley told MOT Leeds News. “It’s difficult to measure that in financial terms as it’s all kind of intangible, but what you’re looking at there is the exposure.
“The fact that those clips are shared far and wide on social media, we know that for people that follow celebrities and that kind of culture, it has some implications there as well. You’re putting your club in the spotlight without having to do too much so it’s a good exposure and PSR piece for sure.
“It’s difficult to measure what that looks like financially, but we know that it has an impact so it can only be a positive if you’ve got that celebrity influence and the advice is leverage that where you can. Especially with that American market and how they view sport and entertainment as well.”
