Real Madrid was ranked the most valuable sports franchise in the world. I repeat WAS.
Yesterday, when Manchester United made their record breaking $1.3 billion dollar a year kit deal official, they resumed the top spot. German sports wear maker Adidas simply outspent American manufacturer Nike to acquire the rights (here’s more on that) and it ended United’s 12 year alliance with the swoosh.
And it dwarfs the £21m Adidas pay to provide the kit for all the NBA teams in the United States.
Wall Street now affords United an enterprise value of $3.6 billion. Math: market value ($3.05 billion) + long term debt ($613 million) – cash ($57 million). In April, we valued Real Madrid as the world’s most valuable team, worth $3.3 billion, with United second at $3.17 billion says Forbes.
But now Manchester United are back on top. Adidas will pay £750m ($1.3 billion) over ten years, or £75m ($130m) a year beginning with the 2015-16 season. This amount trumps the previous high paid by Adidas (£31m a season) for the kit rights to Real Madrid.
Even though United will miss out on the lucrative Champions League of European football, they are just days away from embarking on a major cash cow that is the American preseason exhibition. They’ll take on the L.A. Galaxy in the Rose Bowl, holders of the current record for attendance at an American soccer game. Manchester United will break that record when they take on Real Madrid at The Big House, home of the Michigan Wolverines on August 2nd.
And at home, ticket sales are booming:
The Manchester Evening News reported that fans have rushed to guarantee their seats at the Theatre of Dreams and according to the club all 55,000 season tickets have been sold. It is the earliest United have reached that point since Old Trafford was expanded to a 76,000 seat capacity in 2006. h/t World Soccer Talk
Outside of futbol franchises, the two most valuable teams are MLB ’s New York Yankees ($2.5 billion) and the NFL ’s Dallas Cowboys ($2.3 billion)
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports and Yahoo! The Postgame. He’s been a guest on news talk shows all across the world. Banks has been featured in numerous media outlets including NFL.com, Forbes, Bleacher Report, Deadspin, ESPN, NBC, the History Channel and more. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)