The rumors began this week with a tweet, a bad joke by a billionaire that he quickly shot himself. But almost as soon as Elon Musk left, the sharks were circling.
A British billionaire, Jim Ratcliffe, was off the block earlier, asking if he was really interested in buying the team up for sale. A US private equity firm, Apollo Global Management, was in talks to acquire a minority stake. Money won’t be a problem. Ineos president Ratcliffe is one of the richest men in the world. Apollo has about half a trillion dollars in management.
But getting lost in the whirlpool of breathless reports seemed an important caveat: Manchester United was not actually for sale.
or was it?
These may not seem like the top times of the market in the United States. The team is ranked last in England’s Premier League, the worst start to the season in more than a century. It employs a team of players who inspire more ridicule than respect. Its fans now hold weekly protests against the team’s Florida-based owners, the Glazer family. Yet, despite its struggles, nowhere on earth may there be a more coveted sports franchise than Manchester United.
This is one of the biggest teams anywhere that can be owned outright. It plays in the world’s most popular soccer league. Its reach reaches every corner of the earth. Quite simply: there are very few such powerful brands as Manchester United in any field.
But scarce assets are valued through traditional market fundamentals. United’s share price, for example — it’s listed on the New York Stock Exchange — would suggest that the club is worth $2.23 billion, well below the record $3 billion that a group led by California-based fund Clearlake said. Paid for its premiere this spring. League rival Chelsea FC.
But Chelsea are not Manchester United, not in any meaningful sense. Yes, it has been successful. Yes, it also employs some of the top players in the world. But in terms of global reach, popularity and brand power, the club does not compare with United. What Chelsea’s selling price proved, however, is that when it comes to the valuation of an elite soccer club, what’s on the balance sheet rarely matters.
Chelsea lost more than $1 million in a week under their former boss, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. It needs a new stadium and will need tens of millions more to spend each season to keep its roster competitive. Its purchase price followed a massive public auction that attracted interest from around the world.
For Manchester United, the list of suitors would be even longer, and even more public. Ratcliffe and Apollo may have been the first. They won’t be the last.
Ratcliffe’s approach is perhaps the most instructive to come. He appeared to have made no effort to contact the Glazers directly, or even to reach out to their bankers. Instead, he went straight to the news media and suggested he would be willing to buy a piece of United as well, with an eye on achieving it all one day.
“We are interested in the club, if it is for sale,” Ratcliffe spokespeople were all set to tell The New York Times on Thursday. The tactic built up a base of popular support, and a new round of abuse piled on the current owners.
For the Glazers, who have been under siege for most of their tenure, selling a minority stake may make sense. This may allow them to quell growing fan hostility – many supporters have never forgiven the Glazers for piling up debt at the formerly debt-free club in their £800 million leveraged buyout in 2005, a sort of The deal that the Premier League is now seeking is the Outlaws – while simultaneously bidding for the team’s overall valuation. That figure is almost certainly going to be higher than United’s share price.
Despite nearly a decade of poor performances, United still earn more than nearly every other team in world football. Revenue under the Glazers has tripled, reaching an all-time high of 627 million pounds ($756 million) in 2019. If Chelsea are worth $3 billion in the open market, United, due to its fame, its earning potential, and its coveted status, are far from over. More, perhaps even double, some experts argue.
Also, it is difficult to exaggerate the scale of negative sentiment towards the Glazer family among Manchester United supporters. For more than a decade, fans have rallied against him at matches and in street marches; Once, he even burnt an effigy of the family’s late patriarch, Malcolm Glazer. And when the club flirted with joining a proposed European Super League last year, United fans broke into the team’s stadium and protested on the field.
But through it all – for nearly two decades – the Glazers have hung, a rare asset as a priceless painting in many ways, thrilled to see the value of their investment skyrocket and come with a cachet. Own one of the most famous teams in the world.
It is unclear whether all six Glazer siblings, who were parceled into ownership of the team by their father when he died, share the same commitment to owning Manchester United. Brothers Joel and Avram are the most practical, directly involved in team decision making. But a partial sale can allow family members with less investment to cash in at a premium price, and leave those who are almost certain of the highest price paid for a sports franchise.
At the moment, the Glazers, as has been their custom for almost two decades, have not said a word publicly about their plans. A Manchester United spokesman declined to comment on Thursday.
And now, at least officially, Manchester United is not for sale. The Glazers Banker, a 200-year-old London-based consultant Rothschild & Co., is not actively soliciting bids. But neither was Abramovich, even as he spent years quietly directing offers that came to New York banker Joe Ravitch, who eventually sold Chelsea this spring.
There is a lot of potential for how things will turn out at Manchester United. There will come a time when the time and price will be just right for one of the most lucrative deals in the history of the sport for one of the most unpopular owners in English football history.
It has already cost Manchester United more than £1 billion for the Glazer family ownership rights – in interest, loan repayments and dividends. Most fans would consider the billions plus, this time as a final check, a price worth paying to get rid of them.
This article is originally from . appeared in
new York Times,
