The former vice chairman of the Boston Red Sox has told ESPN FC that Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG) are right to have reservations about extending Anfield even further as it would, ultimately, take a long time to pay back.
Les Otten was vice chairman and minority partner of the Major League Baseball side between 2002 and 2007 and was part of the ownership that started the redevelopment of the historic Fenway Park.
FSG, who bought Liverpool in October 2010, took ownership of the Red Sox in 2002 and decided to renovate the team's stadium instead of building a new one.
Liverpool opened the new Main Stand at Anfield back in September to add a further 8,500 seats, but chief executive officer Ian Ayre said at the most recent supporters' committee meeting that the current plans to extend the Anfield Road end of the ground would not be a "smart investment."
Ayre estimates that it would cost somewhere between £60 million and £70m to add 6,000 seats to the Anfield Road end, with it taking approximately 15 years to pay back due to the lack of hospitality revenue that would be on offer.
"At the end of the day, it may be the sport of kings but the kings have got checking accounts that need to be balanced." Otten said. "Fenway was able to be done in stages, eventually over a 10-year period of time. Each stage increased the number of seats and increased the viability of the ballpark and allowed ticket prices to go up.
"I'm not familiar with the end outcome but I think it's safe to say that the investment had less than a 10-year payback. I didn't get to see the final numbers because, by that time, I had sold my interest in the team."
He continued: "The intimacy of the ballpark was perhaps at least, if not more, important than the actual team itself. The ballpark becomes the shrine which all of the greats of the game were in that space.
"The importance of the ballpark was something that I recognised. I felt people at the time would pay $50 to see the Red Sox in the new ballpark and they would pay $100 to see them in the old ballpark.
"We probably lead, as a percentage, the highest number of seats filled with one of the highest ticket prices. We're not just selling a baseball ticket, we're selling entrance to a shrine.
"Season tickets always sold out really well, but the number of good seats in Fenway Park was limited when we took over. We spent a lot on improvements to increase the really good seats that season-ticket holders would want and could be sold at a good price -- that sort of happened simultaneously, so there was demand for good seats and there was also demand for winning on the field.
"When you're able to do both at the same time, that really allows you to raise the prices and gives you the revenue to increase payroll so you can be more competitive. It all, in a very positive way, came together at the same time."
Liverpool's principal owner, John Henry, was quoted last month saying that supporters' protests over ticket prices may affect Anfield's expansion plans.
"It's impossible to put myself in the shoes of what is going on over there," Otten added. "But what I do know is that fans don't want to concern themselves in the economics of their team.
"How that number [the price of a ticket] equates to winning and losing is something a fan doesn't want to take into consideration. Fans don't look at sports as a business, it's a whole different emotional devotion.
"What I recognised in Boston was that if you didn't raise ticket prices then you better stay in the same place. Because if you left the space and went to a space that wasn't a shire or a place you didn't want to go then you were giving up a huge piece of the economics.
"It's very hard to go to a fan and say: 'I really need $100 instead of $80 because I need that other $20 because otherwise I can't afford to put on a team on the field that can win.'
"I think the alignment between the Red Sox and the fans was phenomenal. It was magically saving Fenway Park, which turned out to be an extraordinary part of the team, city and the surrounding community.
"Within a year we were extremely competitive on the field, we were simultaneously staying some place where everybody wanted us to be, and those two things combined allowed ticket prices to go up, which then created even more money and gave us the ability to increase our payroll even further.
"We became completely competitive in 19 months and within two and half years we won the World Series. The fans couldn't complain about ticket prices going up because we were winning. The chicken and the egg have to occur at the same time and that's what happened in Boston.
"I don't know how many similarities there are [with Liverpool] but you've got to be in a shrine, have people who want to pay more money and then you've got to use that money and then win. Then you have the formula that became the Red Sox. I don't know whether you can duplicate it."