Manchester United has lost its title of the world‘s richest football club to Real Madrid after eight years, partly because of the sale of David Beckham.
德勤会计师事务所(Deloitte)自9年前开始,对足球俱乐部财务状况进行年度评审,而曼联一直高居“德勤足球财富排行榜”(Deloitte Football Money League)榜首。这家英超俱乐部的广告收入一直超出其本土及欧洲竞争对手。
United has topped the Deloitte Football Money League since the accountancy firm began an annual review of football finance nine years ago. The Premiership club generated more commercial income consistently than its rivals in England and in Europe.
But the sale of the star player in 2003 to Real, and the Spanish club‘s purchase of other so-called galacticos, such as Zinedine Zidane, gave it a platform from which to increase its commercial revenues.
The study measures revenues rather than profits and is unable to include factors such as spending power. In such a study, Chelsea would be the clear winner thanks to the wealth of Roman Abramovich, its owner and Russian tycoon.
In revenue terms, however, Real Madrid is the undisputed leader. It generated turnover of ?275.7m (£186.2m) in the 2004-05 season against United‘s £166.4m.
“The main driver for [Real] Madrid has been commercial income, such as sponsorship and merchandising,” said Dan Jones, partner in the sports business group.
For this, Real could thank its star players, who help it sell replica shirts and strike sponsorship deals, he said. “Four years ago, Madrid was generating ?38m of commercial revenues. It‘s risen by a factor of three to ?124m, which is phenomenal.”
The club had “broken the mould” for commercial income. “Growth for most other clubs in the table has tended to come more from broadcasting and match day income.”
However, Deloitte said Real‘s commercial dominance would soon face pressure. United, acquired recently by the US Glazer family, is extending its Old Trafford stadium to more than 70,000 seats, which will boost match-day revenues.
“Juventus and AC Milan [of Italy] have just done massive broadcasting deals while Arsenal have a new stadium. Chelsea are also increasing their income so there are a lot of heavyweights gunning for top position,” said Mr Jones