LONDON: New sponsorship and broadcast deals are expected to drive record revenues for English football champions Manchester United in 2013-14 and enable them to keep pace with European rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona.
United, controlled by the American Glazer family, forecast revenues would rise to between 420 and 430 million pounds (Rs 4,250 and 4,351 crore) in the year to next June. That was based on the team finishing at least third in the English Premier League and reaching the quarterfinals of Europe’s Champions League and domestic cups.
United were already Britain’s richest club and will benefit from enhanced Premier League TV rights deals that began last month and new club sponsorship deals including a particularly lucrative one with General Motors.
Madrid are the only soccer club to have so far broken the 500 million euro (Rs 4,229 crore) revenue barrier but their Spanish rivals Barcelona expect to do so this season.
United listed on the New York Stock Exchange last year, a long way from their home in northern England. The stock has risen from its flotation price of $14 to trade at over $17 (Rs 887-1077), valuing the club at around $2.8 billion (Rs 17,746 crore). (Reuters)