League failure hits Manchester United revenues
MANCHESTER United yesterday reported a 10 per cent slump in revenues for the first quarter as a lack of Champions League football started to hit the club’s coffers.
In the first three months of the 2015 financial year, the English Premier League club’s total revenues fell to £88.7m, from £98.5m in the same period last year.
Within that figure, commercial revenue fell 5.2 per cent to £56.8m, broadcasting revenue dropped 13 per cent to £16.8m, and matchday revenues declined 21.8 per cent to £15.1m.
The club, owned by the American Glazier family, pointed to the absence of lucrative Champions League football as the reason revenues dropped off – this season is the club’s first without European football in over 20 years.
United did, however, demonstrate its enduring international appeal and global brand power by signing a 10-year £750m kit sponsorship deal with Adidas in the first quarter, the largest of its kind in any sport in history.
Ed Woodward, executive vice chairman, commented: “While we recognise that the 2014/15 fiscal year financial results will reflect our absence from the Champions League, we signed the largest kit sponsorship deal in the history of sport in the first quarter and, with that concluded, we are excited to focus our efforts on the meaningful growth opportunities in sponsorship, digital media and retail and merchandising.”
The club also reiterated its previous forecast expecting revenues to total between £385m and £395m for the full fiscal year 2015.