It would take a pretty special stadium to beat the new Wembley, but that is precisely what the owners of Liverpool are planning for Stanley Park.

Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr have spent £450 million securing a club "that has more tradition and unique history than any American franchise", according to Hicks, 61, who has developed breath-taking arenas for his Texas Rangers baseball team in Arlington and for the Dallas Stars, his ice hockey team who play their games at the American Airlines Centre.

You can see the latter from the penthouse suite of Hicks Holdings in downtown Dallas. The views across the dusty urban sprawl of mid-Texas are a stark contrast to the residential Victoriana of Merseyside, but Hicks is a man with a vision.

"I want the design of the new stadium and the park we're going to build on the site of Anfield to be extra special," Hicks, who decided some time ago to invest "smart" in "smart, professional sport businesses", said. "It is important to keep close to what has already been approved with the planners, but we want to improve what's already been agreed. Those plans have been worked on for seven years, so we think we can make adjustments to enhance the experience for the fans.

"The Kop will be at the heart of the new stadium. It will be the stage that performs to the rest of the stadium and we will be asking fans who use the Kop to have an input in what the final design looks like. People like to live nearby, play nearby and eat and have a beer close to the main stadium, the cathedral. So, we'll have other things going on, maybe a hotel and a grand park. What we want is for people to look at a picture of the new Anfield and immediately identify it as the home of Liverpool. We want the best stadium in the world."

And to judge from the wonderfully retro Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, few would bet against Hicks and Gillett getting their way. Hicks inherited the stadium, but he has exploited every commercial opportunity available since, offering lavish corporate facilities, fine dining, areas for children to be entertained and an adjacent park where live bands perform on an island in the lake.

Its design captures the best of Wimbledon's Centre Court, Twickenham and Arsenal's former home, Highbury — stylish yet functional. Those who have seen the original drawings for Stanley Park say that it is ultra-modern. Expect a few "tweaks" from Hicks in the coming weeks. Equally important, tickets can be bought for $15 (about £7) and, as Hicks said: "We cater for all pockets and that's the plan at Stanley Park. As you get into the technology of building a stadium, one of the things you do is have a broader menu of pricing. But there won't be a bad seat in the house."

Talking to his staff at the Ballpark, you get a better idea of what makes Hicks tick. Jeff Cogen, the Rangers president, whizzed me round the arena in his golf buggy as part of my research for a BBC Radio 5 Live programme. "Tom knows what he wants," Cogen said. "And he puts people in place who deliver. If it costs a few more bucks, he won't worry. If it works for the fans, then it works for Tom."

Hicks believes that he is a fair boss, "but I do hold people accountable. The key to everything is to have a smart manager like Rafa BenÍtez with a long-term view of how we can get better as a club. So whatever the stories in England have been, he is absolutely a part of our plans. We want Rafa and Rick Parry, the chief executive, to pull things together and make sure we are successful, not just next season or in the coming seasons, but for the next 50 years."

Hicks and Gillett have arranged a first get-together with BenÍtez, the Liverpool manager, after their Barclays Premiership match at home to Arsenal on Saturday. "We've set a meeting with Rafa after the Arsenal match," Hick said. "I'll have all my family there, George will have all his family and we'll celebrate our first game as new owners. Then we've set aside half the day to talk with Rafa."

While Hicks gets excited about the new stadium, his eyes positively shone when he mentioned the growth markets in the Far East. "It's no coincidence that big Premiership games start at 12.45pm on a Saturday," he said. "That's prime time in Asia, in China, Japan, Malaysia and Indonesia. We have an 85 per cent market share of fans in some of those regions, who grew up when Liverpool were the dominant force in the Seventies.

"Manchester United has that share now in places like China. We are investing to make Liverpool the dominant club again in that region. Liverpool can do it. It has the tradition and the history. More than any sporting team in America, including the long-established brands like the [New York] Yankees or the [Boston] Red Sox, Liverpool has a great chance of winning that audience."

When Hicks talks about spending "smart", he means never adopting the Roman Abramovich policy at Chelsea. "We won't be doing that," he said. "We will be building for the future, which I believe is what Rafa wants, too. If we need to spend big in the transfer market, then we will do that because it is important to have a successful team in the new stadium.

"But we will do so when it's the right decision and the right player. We will also ensure that the big players already at the club, like Steven Gerrard, are kept on long contracts."

Hicks and Gillett bought Liverpool because top Premiership clubs qualify as hugely attractive investments. So what does the future hold for the Premiership with all this American interest? "I'd like to see all those young England businessmen who have made lots of money in the last 20 years buy into English teams, but if they don't, I guess we will," Hicks said.