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Glazer's Manchester United Loses Richest Team Status to Madrid (go back to the homepage) Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Real Madrid ended Manchester United's eight-year status as soccer's richest team in the same year that U.S. billionaire Malcolm Glazer took control of the English club, accountancy firm Deloitte & Touche LLP said. Madrid's sales rose 17 percent to 276 million euros ($328 million) in the season ended May 2005, Deloitte said in its annual Football Money League report published today. United's revenue fell 5 percent to 246 million euros to rank the club second. Glazer took control of United that month, prompting some fans to protest he was saddling the then debt-free club with borrowings of $1.1 billion. United plans to lift annual revenue to 245.6 million pounds ($427 million) by 2010, the Times of London reported, citing a copy of Glazer's business plan. ``For the last 50 years or so, the United brand has been perhaps No. 1 in the world alongside Real Madrid,'' Professor Tom Cannon of Kingston Business School said in an interview. ``If it slips down to second, third or fourth, the club's long-term position in the market place is fundamentally altered.'' English soccer has eight teams in a top 20 that together generated sales of more than 3 billion euros for the first time. Italy is represented by five clubs, Spain has three, Germany two and France and Scotland one each. Combined revenue rose 6 percent to 3.13 billion euros. In Deloitte's first report, in 1997, the total was 1.2 billion euros. Fans and Partners ``The high level of interest from fans and commercial partners is reflected by another year of strong growth, especially at the highest level,'' Dan Jones, a partner in Deloitte's Sport Business Group, said in an e-mailed statement. Since Florentino Perez took over as Real Madrid president five years ago, the Spanish club has more than tripled sponsorship and merchandising revenue by signing star players such as David Beckham, Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane. Madrid has the sport's second-most lucrative shirt sponsorship agreement, earning 14 million euros a year from Siemens AG, plus a jersey-supply accord with Adidas-Salomon AG and further tie-ups with PepsiCo Inc. and Audi AG. Almost 45 percent of last season's revenue was commercial, compared with 32 percent from broadcasters and 23 percent in match- day sales. United got 42 percent of its income on match days and 29 percent from the other two sources. ``Real Madrid's top spot represents a remarkable transformation in the club's revenue generating capacity,'' said Jones. ``It has broken the mold.'' Jersey Logos Madrid's commercial income will be further boosted this year by a new shirt-sponsorship accord worth as much as 25 million euros a year with Benq Corp., Deloitte said. That will top the record 22 million euros that Tamoil SA pays Italian champion Juventus. Vodafone is ending its agreement with United two years early at the end of the current season. Mansion Ltd., an online gaming company, has offered as much as 16.5 million pounds to take over, the Daily Mail reported yesterday. United could eclipse Madrid's average crowd of almost 72,000 when the club's Old Trafford home is expanded to hold more than 76,000 fans from next season. United may need to ensure it hangs on to second in the Premiership table, after finishing third last season, to continue to boost global commercial sales, Cannon said. ``When you can't use the hook of success, it requires a lot of strategic thinking,'' he said. ``I've not seen much of that from United or any other English club.'' Chelsea Slips Italy's A.C. Milan, which lost the 2005 Champions League final to Liverpool, remains third on the list, one place ahead of Juventus. The Turin team moved above Roman Abramovich-owned Chelsea, which slipped a spot to fifth. They're followed by Barcelona and Bayern Munich, whose national titles in Spain and Germany, respectively, helped lift them up the rankings. Liverpool's fifth success in Europe's top tournament boosted sales by 30 percent to 181 million euros, Deloitte said, helping return the club to profit after a record loss in 2004. That lifted the record 18-time English champion two places to 10th on Deloitte's list. Fourteen of the 20 richest teams competed in the group stage of the Champions League, which Deloitte says can lift revenue by as much as 20 percent. ``The on-pitch competition to be crowned champions of Europe can have a significant influence on the position of clubs,'' said Jones. Inter Milan slipped one spot to ninth and London team Arsenal was the biggest decliner in the top 10, sliding four places from sixth after losing its Premiership title to Chelsea and exiting the Champions League in the second round. Deloitte said more French and German teams may enter future lists after the top leagues in both countries signed new broadcast agreements. German clubs will also benefit from stadium improvements for this year's World Cup costing more than 1 billion euros. Chelsea, Arsenal, A.C. Milan, Juventus and Barcelona will soon challenge for a place in the top three, Deloitte said. |