At first the comparison made no sense. Keith Olbermann of ESPN referred to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the farm club of Manchester United. Yes, I know they’re both owned by the Glazer family, but I still don’t get it. It’s a different league, country and sport. Where’s the parallel?
We’ll get to that, first watch the video below, it’s funny!:
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers put alarm clock numbers on their new uniforms and the US Mens National Soccer Team decided to get their new uniforms from waiters at Club Med. They’re both as awful as they sound. Keith explains.
Ok, moving from one Glazer property to another.
According to the Forbes annual list of the world’s 50 most valuable sports franchises, released every July, Manchester United Football Club, owned by the Glazers, was surpassed by Real Madrid this year. Forbes places Real Madrid’s value at $3.3 billion. United came in No. 2 at $3.17 billion.
Although the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have had trouble selling out their stadium in recent years, due to a lot of losing lately, they still came in with a very solid showing. They’re No. 28 at $1.03 billion, making them the second-most valuable franchise in the NFL ‘s NFC South division. So that’s why the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the “farm club.” From a fiscal standpoint it makes perfect sense. We usually think of a farm club in the sense of a feeder team, which acts as a stepping stone to the “parent club.”
In this case it’s all financial. United are worth more than THREE TIMES the valuation of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers! They are the little brother on the ledger sheets. Indeed a Manchester United “farm club” And it’s very good to be a Glazer! Two sports franchises worth a combined $4.20 billion!
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. An MBA and Fulbright scholar, he’s also a frequent analyst on news talk radio; with regular segments on ESPN,NBC, CBS and Fox. A former NBC Chicago and Washington Times writer, he’s also been featured on the History Channel. President Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)