By Andrew Warshaw
November 15 – Lucrative new sponsorship deals allied to a strong start to the season at home and in Europe have contributed to cut the mountain of debt at Manchester United, regarded as the world’s best-supported club.
English champions a record 19 times, United announced they have reduced their debt to £360 million ($571 million/€448 million) in the three months to September 30, down 17 per cent from a year earlier.
Ever since the Glazer family (pictured below) took over the club in 2005, a vocal minority of United fans have argued that the cost of servicing debts following the £790 million ($1.3 billion/€982 million) leveraged buyout is not the way to run a major club especially with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules about to bite.
But United have always argued that their global fanbase and powerful commercial and marketing status gives them a head’s start over their rivals.
“We have been very pleased at how the year has started both on and off the pitch,” executive vice chairman Ed Woodward told a conference call.
“Manchester United had a record first quarter driven by our commercial operation, which continues to experience extremely strong global revenue growth in new media and mobile, retail merchandising and sponsorship.
“The team has also made a strong start to the 2012-2013 season – currently first place in the Premier League and first place [and undefeated] in our Champions League group.”
United lead the English Premier League after finishing second behind local rivals Manchester City last season and have also already qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League after a costly early exit last season.
United, who claim to have 659 million followers worldwide, signed 10 new sponsorship deals in the first quarter, the most eye-catching being a $559 million (£353 million/€438 million) agreement with General Motors for seven seasons from 2014.
That deal contributed to a 32.4 per cent increase in sponsorship and allowed commercial revenues to rise by 24 per cent to £43 million ($68 million/€53 million) in the first quarter alone.
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