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Club-themed experience centres and a high-profile ‘Red Devil Messenger’ are helping Manchester United build on their established Chinese fanbase as the country celebrates the Lunar New Year.
The Old Trafford giants are one of the most popular sports teams in China, having first visited the region in 1975 and returned on tour as recently as 2016.
So important is the Chinese market that kit supplier Adidas produced a Chinese New Year range for United to help celebrate – and capitalise on – the Year of the Pig being ushered in on Tuesday.
Caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wore the range in his press conference previewing Sunday’s match at Leicester, where the first team donned it for pre and post-match interviews, as well as well as walking out in the anthem jacket.
But it is in the fast-paced digital age where United are really attempting to make their mark in China.
The club is the most followed sports team on Chinese social network Weibo, with their figure of 9.3million followers around the same as Arsenal and Chelsea combined.
United were recognised as the most influential team online in China in 2017 and 2018 but dropped down to third in this year’s ‘Red Card’ report by Mailman. Real Madrid came top despite their Weibo account having 3.5million followers.
United are working to make in-roads in other ways in China, including the ‘Wake Up The Devil Inside You’ campaign run last year and tie-ups with celebrities.
Chinese singer and actor Lu Han was at last month’s Premier League win against Brighton – a trip that saw him meet the team and Solskjaer present him with a certificate confirming him as a ‘Red Devil Messenger’.
The club said that he “will remain close to the club and continue to show his passion and support for United in China” – an agreement that Press Association Sport understands to be the first such ambassadorial role for the side.
As an example of Lu Han’s reach, his Weibo post saying “Ten years a fan, Lifelong a Red Devil!” in September 2015 broke his own record for the most comments on a post on the network. It now has more than 100 million comments.
That online push is being bolstered on the ground, with United understood to be lining up an #ILoveUnited fan event in China to make this the ninth straight year they have visited the country.
Then there are club-themed entertainment and experience centres that United last month announced they were opening throughout China in partnership with property developer Harves.
The first centres in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenyang are due to be completed by the end of 2020 and will help reach what the club calls their “100 million followers in China”.
Manchester United group managing director, Richard Arnold, said: “We’re very excited to be partnering with Harves on the Manchester United Entertainment and Experience Centres concept, offering our millions of Chinese fans the chance to experience the club in a new and innovative way.
“We first visited China in 1975 and we’re proud to have seen our fan base in the region grow and develop their passion for United over the years.
“This new concept will allow them to get closer to the club they love.”
While the exact number of fans in China is hard to quantify, it is understood that United account for half of the season TV pass subscriptions in the country.
MUTV was launched in the region in 2016 working with Sina and the club is still exploring new ways to engage with fans, meaning Marouane Fellaini’s move to Shandong Luneng is unlikely to be the last business done with China this year.
- Press Association
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Manchester United still dominate the money leagues though Europe’s giant clubs are rising, writes Pádraig Hoare.
Manchester United’s brand value has risen 9% to just under €1.65bn this year — while Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo generates more revenue than many of the clubs he will play in Serie A this season with new club Juventus.
That is according to a report from global credit ratings firm DBRS, which undertook an in-depth exploration of the main revenue streams of football clubs — broadcasting, commercial, and matchday — and their impact on evolving player costs and club profitability.
The report found Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich, the four clubs generating the most revenue in Europe, all count commercial sales as their main revenue generator.
“These four superclubs, in particular, have been more successful in diversifying their revenue streams than most others, for whom broadcast rights is the revenue driver. DBRS considers such revenue diversification a credit positive when assigning ratings to football clubs,” states the report.
Manchester United bring in more total income than any other club, with over €676.3m in 2016/17, an 84% increase on the €367m they generated in 2010/11, found the report.
“Despite not having won the Champions League in a decade, or even winning England’s championship since 2013, Manchester United’s brand value rose 9% in 2018 compared with 2017, reaching $1.89bn, illustrating how much a strong brand, supplemented by an international supporter base of hundreds of millions of fans, can lead to commercial revenue growth and offset a dip in on-field performance.
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Manchester United generate almost half their income from commercial profits and £275.5m (€313.5m) from commercial revenue in 2016/2017, almost £80m more than broadcasting sales that season.
The club have 70 sponsors from all corners of the globe, said DBRS, while a shirt sponsorship deal with Chevrolet that began in 2014/15 nets an estimated £47m a year, just over 10% of Manchester United’s total revenue in 2016/17.
A 10-year £750m sponsorship deal with Adidas contributed 13.6% of the club’s total revenue in 2016/17.
Real Madrid and Barcelona have been open about using Manchester United as a template for their commercial operations and in some years have even surpassed the English club in generating commercial income, said DBRS.
Real Madrid winning the Champions League three times since 2014 has helped increase commercial revenue to €301m in 2017 from €212m in 2013, a rise of almost 42%.
Barcelona are not far behind their Spanish rivals in commercial income, generating €296m in 2016/17.
Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten now pays Barcelona up to €61.5m a season in sponsorship, with Turkish electronics company Beko paying €19m a year to sponsor the club’s training equipment alone.
Barcelona’s kit deal with Nike, negotiated in 2016 and scheduled to kick in from 2018/19, also sees the club receive €155m a season, surpassing Manchester United and Real Madrid’s deals with Adidas and marking a 48% increase on the previous deal, according to the report.
Along with income pouring in from the club’s 41 other sponsors, this helped revenue reach a record €914m — including player transfers — in 2017/18, with the club maintaining that they were on course to reach €1bn before their 2021 target.
While slightly behind on total revenue generated, and with 2017’s actually falling in comparison with 2016, Bayern Munich, in contrast, earn more in commercial income than any other football club in the world at €343.4m in 2016/17.
German clubs benefit from their location in Europe’s largest economy and can form strategic, long-standing partnerships with some of the continent’s largest corporations, who are often local, such as Adidas, Audi, and Allianz, said DBRS.
Meanwhile, Paris Saint Germain’s social media following has risen by 30% since Neymar’s €222m arrival and the club’s merchandise sales have increased by 78%, found DBRS.
“In an environment where fans, particularly in international markets, are often bound less by traditional club loyalties and instead follow stars from club to club and are viewed not just as supporters but also as customers, the attractiveness of such marketable icons to sponsors is clear,” states the report.
DBRS said it was of the opinion that Cristiano Ronaldo’s €112m transfer from Real Madrid to Juventus in July 2018 was another transfer driven by more than just sporting considerations.
“If Ronaldo, who has 332m social media followers and more on Facebook than anybody, were a club himself, his revenue would be more than many of the clubs he will play in Serie A this season,” it states.
Real Madrid’s wealth, as assessed by Forbes, increased to €3.48bn as of June 2018 from €1.35bn when Ronaldo joined in 2009.
Assessed before accusations of rape surfaced against the Portugeuse record goal-scorer, the report found that although Juventus are the dominant club in Italy, rivals Internazionale, with the help of their Chinese owners Suning, currently make more money from commercial sources.
Ronaldo’s signing is clearly a move to help Juventus reach the next level commercially, said DBRS.
Juventus sold 520,000 shirts, worth €55m, bearing Ronaldo’s name in the 24 hours that followed his transfer, over 50% of the total they sold the previous season. The club’s stock price jumped 33% after his transfer was announced, said DBRS.
Following his signing in July, Juventus ranked as the number 1 club for social media interactions, gaining a million new Twitter followers. With 3.07m YouTube views in June, this figure jumped to 36.3m in July.
The signing was completed in order for Juventus to break into new markets, concludes the report.
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Jose Mourinho’s side were embarrassed by Brighton at the weekend but that did not stop Manchester United’s share price reaching an all-time high the following day.
Sunday’s 3-2 defeat on the south coast has thrown United under the spotlight, from the future of their manager to the happiness of record-signing Paul Pogba and effectiveness of background operations.
But such issues have not impacted the company as a whole, with the club’s share price reaching an all-time high on Monday.
United were trading at a record 24.20 US dollars (€20.90) on the New York Stock Exchange, with the share price at 23.10 dollars (€20) by close on Tuesday.
It means the club’s market value is around €3.3bn, with United set to enjoy revenues of just over half a billion euro for the third successive year.
The fiscal 2018 results are expected to be announced in September, with the club having said that revenue was expected to be between €640m and €651m in their third-quarter results.
United set record revenues of €647.5m in 2017, having made €574m in 2016.
- Press Association
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