According to the Glazer acquisition announcement published in the stock market last Friday (May 13, 2003), of the more than 800 million pounds (note: the acquisition fund is 8120,000, and more than 22,000,790,000 is the expense of financial consultants) that the Glazer family bought the Red Devils, 272 million is their own cash (this is more than 200 million dollars paid by Abramovich when he bought Chelsea). In other words, the total amount of loans reached 540 million. No wonder some Manchester United fans shouted that Manchester United suddenly took on "the most exaggerated mortgage in the world".
From the rational analysis, Glazer is a businessman whose sole purpose is to make money. Glazer is a stingy Grandet (see "Glazer"). He won't put all his hard-earned money into a business that is doomed to lose money. Therefore, Glazer does not want Manchester United to collapse. After investing 800 million pounds, only the more successful the club is can he earn more money.
On the other hand, however, no matter how you calculate, you are puzzled: how can Glazer repay the loan? Because as can be seen from Manchester United's financial statements, the annual profit of the Red Devils is only between 20 million pounds, and Glazer's 540 million pounds "super mortgage" needs 40 million to 50 million pounds every year to fill the hole, let alone repay the principal. And such a high debt, just hit the muzzle of the UEFA club license program, Manchester United will even qualify for the Champions League in the future.
It is certainly impossible to raise the ticket price like pirates. Not to mention that it will anger the already rigid fan relationship. In reality, the next season's ticket sales price increase plan has been introduced, and many season tickets have been sold. Glazer can only raise some box tickets at most, but this is a drop in the bucket for this debt.
Change the naming rights of the stadium? Some anti-Manchester United fans hit people offline: "We may see the' Old McDonald's Ford' stadium in the future? Or' Vodafone Valley'? Then arrange a simulated pirate ship in the stands, equipped with a full-board gun? " But how much gold can you scrape?
Collect money from fans in Asia and North America? Although Glazer is an old hand at this point, don't forget: although Manchester United claims to have 50 million fans around the world, its annual income is only 65,438+00% from outside the UK.
From the current point of view, the most realistic thing is undoubtedly to start with the TV broadcast fee. At present, 20 clubs in the Premier League collectively negotiate contracts, which leads to the fact that clubs with high ratings like Manchester United are divided up by small clubs in TV broadcasting fees. But it is also difficult: the contract with Sky TV will not expire until 2007. How can we break the existing contract? Even if the contract expires, according to Premier League regulations, two-thirds of the 20 clubs need to agree to break the existing collective bargaining model. Newcastle President Shepard believes that getting other Premier League teams to support personal negotiations in TV commercials is as difficult as "getting turkeys to vote for Thanksgiving".