First it was the Glazers and Manchester United. Then Randy Lerner followed suit at Aston Villa. Liverpool are on to their second set of American investors. Now the 488th richest man in the world, the US billionaire Robert Rich, has followed suit – by ploughing some of his fortune into lowly Bedlington Terriers.

With an estimated fortune of around $2bn, Rich has the wealth to have followed the recent trend of transatlantic investment in the Premier League. But instead, the chairman of the Rich Products Corporation (which specialises in "baked goods, desserts, barbecued meats, and Italian cuisine"), chose the Northumberland side currently seventh in the ninth tier of English football.

The 69-year-old, whose sporting background involves trials for the US Olympic ice hockey team in 1964, got involved after tracing his family back to the area. His wife bought him the title Lord of Bedlington and on further investigation he became interested in the Terriers. The American has become a shirt sponsor and has put in an undisclosed amount of cash.

He told the Journal: "I haven't made any promises. Having said that, I would love to see them do well and let them challenge me to increase our participation.

"I want to help Bedlington Terriers. I'm still learning about British football, and I understand that if they do well on the field it can move up in divisions. If this is the dream the community has, I want to help. I don't want to become an owner – I just want to help."

He will ship a £30,000 electronic scoreboard to the Welfare Park ground, and is looking to turn the club shirts into a cult item for US sports fans.

Rather than world domination, the Northern League club has modest aims, namely promotion to the same level as local rivals Blyth Spartans, four tiers above them.

"In my dream of dreams I would like to see Bedlington step on to the pitch as a League Two side," said the club secretary David Callop. "Who knows whether that might happen? But we are not splashing the cash on players now, we are slowly improving our ground."

He added: "Mr Rich could have bought Man U or Liverpool, I would imagine. He would sooner help the underdog."

Bedlington's players all have full-time jobs and are only paid expenses. Rich's current level of backing – which includes promoting the club's shirts to his 80,000 employees – will not see the side go full-time.

Callop said: "The backing has relieved us of the immediate worries of scraping by. Even at our level, clubs can take some running. For a night match when we might only have 60 or so paying punters, we have to pay £50 for the floodlights and £200 for the officials."

The link-up with Rich, who owns three baseball teams – the Buffalo Bisons, the Northwest Arkansas Naturals and the Jamestown Jammers – came out of the blue. "It's true to say our chairman thought it was a wind-up when the first phone call came through," Callop said. "When we were told about it I was over the moon, but very sceptical at the same time.

"But this is real and he wants to help us achieve the chairman's targets, which are to get the club up."