This global sports figure from Boston wants to reimagine the internet

Frank McCourt Jr. has held many titles over the years — including major Boston building developer and owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers. His most recent title is author.

The founder of Project Liberty, a $500 million initiative to reimagine how the internet works, shared with NBC10 Boston what inspired him to write a new book, "Our Biggest Fight: Reclaiming Liberty, Humanity, and Dignity in the Digital Age." He also explained why owning the Dodgers, despite growing up as a Red Sox fan, fulfilled a dream.

Read lightly edited excerpts from the interview below, and watch the full interview above.

NBC10 Boston: Your new book is titled, "Our Biggest Fight: Reclaiming Liberty, Humanity and Dignity in the Digital Age." What sparked you to write it?

Frank McCourt Jr.: The reason I wrote "Our Biggest Fight" is to bring attention to Project Liberty, which is a $500 million initiative to reimagine how the internet works and reclaiming control of our personhood and our data on the internet from the machines of big tech. It's really about changing the way the internet works and doing so in a way, by the way, that this time around, we're not just letting the technology lead the way, but we're bringing social scientists together with the computer scientists to have a better design this time and a better architecture for the future.

I was pretty proud, though, when I got to bring the Dodgers into Fenway Park and play the Red Sox

Former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt Jr.

You're from Boston. Your family traces its roots in the area to the 1800s. What does the city mean to you?

I'm a Bostonian, born and bred. And when you're born and bred in Boston, you come with a particular worldview and a view of the country, because it started here, and a view of our responsibility. I'm really happy to be back in Boston today talking about "Our Biggest Fight" and talking about this work because this is my hometown. This is the community that formed me.

There was a history with Boston's Seaport as well as you wanting to have the Red Sox there in the past. Could that be something on the horizon for you? Being a Boston kid, is that still a dream, to have ownership here?

Well, you know, many of my dreams have been fulfilled. I'm actually a very, very fortunate person. I got to own a professional sports team — they are the Dodgers.

On the wrong side of the country

Yeah, exactly. Believe me, believe me, I was pretty proud, though, when I got to bring the Dodgers into Fenway Park and play the Red Sox. You know, my hometown team and the team I rooted for and so forth. I don't know what the future holds, but I can tell you that I'm a huge sports fan and sports person, and it's been a big part of my life and now, as a father of seven, it's a big part of my kids' lives.

I love what sports meant to me and did for me growing up, both participating in it and then going and supporting, you know, my hometown teams. The pursuit of the Red Sox, which didn't work out, led to the ownership of the Dodgers, which has now led to the ownership of Marseilles in European football, which, if you want to see really crazy, go to European football.

How did you get involved or interested in European soccer– football?

After selling the Dodgers I had that boyhood dream fulfilled. I kind of said to myself, if I ever buy another team, it's going to be in European football, European soccer. Not only is it the biggest sport in the world, it's the sport that touches everybody, everywhere. Baseball, it's a fantastic sport, a sport that I grew up with, but it's really America's national pastime and it does touch parts of South America and parts of Asia. But it's not a global sport, per se.

European football, or soccer, it's the top athletes in the sport and so I was very attracted to that from a sports perspective. Owning a sports team gives you access and connection to a lot of other people and places because you realize sports continue to be one of the things that help us build community and connect with other people. You can get into an automobile in any city and ask the driver who their favorite football club is and you're going to be in a conversation and you're going to have something in common.

How do you see yourself outside of your business? A lot of times we've become defined by what we do. But how would you describe yourself outside of your work?

I'm a dad. I'm a father, proud father of seven children and I'm a husband with a great wife and partner. That's how I define myself.