You’ve heard and probably sang Glory Glory Man United hundreds of times, but have you every heard it played in front of 109,318 people? Followed by the noise of a crowd cheering wildly?
Yes, you’ve never heard the battle hymn of the republic quite like this. The playing of Glory Glory Man United on the Michigan Stadium jumbotron, following Manchester United’s 3-1 victory over Real Madrid in a preseason friendly in Ann Arbor, MI. Video below:
Michigan Stadium is the third largest stadium in the world, capacity 109,901. Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, India is #2 at 120,000. Rungrado May Day Stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea is #1 at 150,000. Manchester United Manager Louis van Gaal brought up the commercial importance of the Man United summer tour in the United States during his press conference at Michigan Stadium. He even mentioned the shirt sponsor, Chevrolet, by name. When United came to the city where Chevrolet was founded they injected a huge amount of money into the local economy, supposedly.
Obviously, the draw of Real Madrid and Cristiano Ronaldo had a lot to do with that too. According to notes that were handed to me and other media members in the press box on Saturday, “the estimated economic impact for Washtenaw County could reach $15-20 million.”
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports and Yahoo! He’s been a guest on news talk shows all across the world. He’s also a special contributor to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Banks has been featured in numerous media outlets including NFL.com, Forbes, Bleacher Report, Deadspin, ESPN, NBC, CBS, the History Channel and more. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)