Red Sox President and CEO Larry Lucchino said in a statement that the purchase by New England Sports Ventures of the Liverpool Football Club in England will not lead to diminished investment in the Red Sox. Despite the $477 million purchase price of Liverpool, Luccino suggested, the organization’s financial commitment to the Red Sox will not diminish. To the contrary, coming off a year in which the team’s payroll set a new franchise record, Lucchino vowed that the club “will not divert our resources or focus on the job at hand – winning a third World Series for the loyal members of Red Sox Nation.”

Here is the complete release:

Today’s announcement that New England Sports Ventures (NESV) has reached an understanding with the Liverpool Football Club Board of Directors to buy that historic Club is a tremendous development for the NESV partners; and, I predict, for the passionate supporters of Liverpool Football Club.

To be clear, while it is exciting for all of us as global sports fans, this is an undertaking of the NESV partnership, which owns the Boston Red Sox, New England Sports Network, Roush Fenway Racing, and Fenway Sports Group. It is not an undertaking of the Boston Red Sox and will not divert our resources or focus on the job at hand – winning a third World Series for the loyal members of Red Sox Nation.

Those of us in the Red Sox front office, starting with me, Theo, and the baseball management team, share a single-minded focus on the baseball team, and we will remain in our roles and committed to extending the extraordinary and winning traditions of the Boston Red Sox. We want to assure our fans that our work and our Red Sox resources will continue to be devoted to fielding excellent teams in 2011 and beyond, teams worthy of our fans’ avid support.