"For many years, the Red Devils were hailed as football's commercial gurus. They pioneered a segmented approach to sponsorship, licensed their badge with discipline and smarts, and there was even a commercial angle to many new signings. Infamously, Ed Woodward, the club's de-facto CEO between 2012 and 2021 said that United don't need to win trophies to sell shirts and commercial partnerships."
"In the age of PSR, petrostate-owned clubs and trillion-dollar private equity funds looking to become superpowers in football through little more than brute force, selling shirts and commercial partnerships is - bleakly - the very thing that wins trophies. United have dined out on their global brand for years, but their lack of success on the pitch is catching up with them."
"This season, they risk falling out of the list of the top 10 revenue generating clubs worldwide for the very first time. With the Glazers unwilling and Sir Jim Ratcliffe seemingly unable to put any more money into the club for the time being, that will have a material effect on the playing budget."
Manchester United is resisting a Premier League proposal for league-wide sponsorship that could generate £750m annually for clubs. While Premier League commercial income grew from £978m to £2.2bn over a decade, United's sponsorship revenue increased only £33m in the same period, actually declining when adjusted for inflation. Once celebrated as commercial innovators with segmented sponsorship strategies and disciplined brand licensing, United relied on their global brand reputation without requiring on-field success. However, in the modern era of Financial Sustainability Rules, state-owned clubs, and private equity investment, commercial success now depends directly on sporting performance. United risks falling outside the top 10 revenue-generating clubs worldwide for the first time, with limited additional investment from ownership, materially impacting their playing budget.
#manchester-united-commercial-revenue #premier-league-sponsorship #financial-sustainability-rules #sports-business-strategy #club-ownership-and-investment
Read at United In Focus
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]