In January, the Orlando Magic flew to Europe for a regular-season double-header: Berlin on January 15, then London’s O2 Arena on January 18. It was the NBA’s first regular-season game in Germany and its tenth in London, part of a three-year slate that continues with Manchester and Paris in 2027 and Berlin and Paris in 2028.

Going the other way, the USA Summer Tour 2026 brought Liverpool, Leeds United, Sunderland, and Wrexham to six American cities between July 25 and August 2, including Tampa, New York, and Chicago, for a run of preseason friendlies. And behind the fixtures sits an ownership story that would have sounded far-fetched twenty years ago: the majority of the Premier League is now controlled by American money.

It’s easy to read all of this as sports news. It is better read as a case study in cross-border payments, because every one of these moves is about capital, revenue, and currency crossing an ocean. That is the part of the story we work in every day.

American capital, English clubs

Before the Glazer family bought Manchester United in 2005, no Premier League club had an American owner. Recent reporting puts the number at 11 of 20 clubs with a US firm or individual holding either a majority or the most influential stake, including Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Everton, Fulham, Bournemouth, and Crystal Palace. Ownership changes often, so treat any list as a snapshot.

The logic is not complicated. European clubs have historically been priced well below comparable US franchises, and American owners know how to run a sports business as a global media and entertainment brand. When a Premier League club looks inexpensive next to an NFL or NBA team, the appeal is obvious.

The same capital is reshaping US sports too

The ownership shift is not one-way. Institutional money has been moving into North American teams at scale: by May 2026, an estimated 74 North American pro teams had institutional investors holding stakes, according to the CFA Institute. Leagues have opened their rules to allow it (MLB in 2019, the NFL in 2024), and franchise prices have climbed with them. The Los Angeles Lakers sold for a reported $10 billion in 2025.

Underneath the valuations sits one thing: predictable revenue. Media rights are the anchor. The NBA’s current deal is worth a reported $76 billion, and NBC is paying roughly $2.7 billion for its six-year Premier League rights package running to 2028. Long-dated, contracted cash flow is what lets investors put a number on a team.

Why the games are traveling

If media rights drive value, then audience size drives media rights, and that pushes leagues to go where new audiences are. That is why the NBA is building a European calendar, and why the Premier League treats the US as a growth market instead of a summer-tour stop.

The rules are also shifting. In April 2026, FIFA was reported to have circulated a draft proposal that would let domestic leagues stage one competitive game abroad per season, with limits on how many a host country can take. The Premier League had said as recently as 2025 that it had no intention of playing league games overseas, so whether that changes is an open question. What is clear is that the commercial pressure to reach bigger markets is not going away.

Every one of these deals is a payments problem

We don’t see inside any club’s treasury, and we won’t pretend to. But the structure of these businesses makes the exposure easy to describe, and it looks a lot like the exposure our clients manage every day.

• Revenue and costs in different currencies. A club with a large US commercial and broadcast footprint earns meaningful dollars, while wages, transfer fees, and stadium costs are largely paid in pounds or euros. The exchange rate between the two moves the real cost of running the business.
• Funding across borders. A US owner capitalizing a UK entity, or a UK company funding a US subsidiary, has to move a large sum on a specific date. The rate on that day matters, and so does how the funds settle.
• Many small payments in many places. A summer tour or an international game means hotels, logistics, staffing, and vendors across several cities and countries, often paid in local currency on short notice.
• Getting profit back out. Money earned abroad eventually has to be repatriated. Doing that on a plan, and not whenever cash happens to be needed, changes the outcome.

What this means for a company without a stadium

The scale is different, but the questions are identical. If you are exporting to the US, running a US subsidiary, or paying suppliers overseas, you are managing the same four things, whether or not anyone has written them down as a strategy.

Five questions worth asking this quarter

• Which currencies do you earn in, and which do you pay in? Where do they not match?
• What did your last three international payments actually cost once the exchange rate is included, not just the wire fee? (Our hidden FX costs webinar recap shows where those costs hide.)
• How much of your currency exposure is predictable enough to plan around?
• Are you holding funds in the currency you’ll spend next, or converting and reconverting?
• Who owns this decision, and is it made on a schedule or on the day?

None of these questions require a treasury department. They require someone to look at the flows once and decide what to do about them.

Final thoughts

Sports is a useful lens because the money is visible: the ownership deals, the media contracts, and the games in other countries all make the news. Most companies’ cross-border money moves are invisible by comparison, which is exactly why they get less attention than they deserve.

The organizations that handle this well, in sport or in industry, tend to plan the money movement when they plan the expansion. They don’t wait until the first invoice arrives in a currency they weren’t expecting.

Disclaimer: This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, investment, or financial advice. Club ownership, league rules, and valuations change frequently; figures are drawn from the public sources above as of publication. Nextpay Global has no relationship with any of the clubs, leagues, or owners mentioned. Consult qualified professionals before making decisions about international payments, currency risk, or investments.