Skip to main content

Can Ronaldo pay for himself?

Ronaldo certainly showed he can deliver on the pitch on Saturday, but what about the revenue side of the equation?  He will cost at least £50m or five per cent of United's projected revenues over the next two years.  The money could not be recouped through shirt sales or sponsorship deals.

The club is hoping for more intangible returns.   These include a belief that Ronaldo will raise standards in the team, excite fans who protested against the club's involvement in the European Super League, and draw in a new generation of supporters.  With 340 million Instagram followers, it is believed he will attract younger and international audiences.

At Juventus commercial income rose from €143m to €175m during his three years at the club, but the Serie A side were starting from a lower base.  The marginal benefit for United is not so high.  United's commercial revenue was £279m in 2020.  It has already secured its biggest endorsement deals, such as a five year shirt sponsorship worth €275m with German tech group TeamViewer.   The vast majority of revenues from replica shirt sales is taken by Adidas.

Ronaldo's contract, like those of other United players, includes 'downside protections' such as wage cuts if the team fails to qualify for the Champions League.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's no deal say Spurs insiders over Taiwanese takeover

Senior figures at Tottenham Hotspur insisted on Friday that they had not been informed of any deal to sell Daniel Levy’s stake in the club. A business group, Eight Sports Capital — which is said to include a billionaire Taiwanese financier — claimed that it had an agreement in place to buy a 24.99 per cent stake in ENIC, the club’s majority owners, from Levy, who owns 29.88 per cent. The Times has been told Ng Wing Fai and Brooklyn Earick form part of the group, having both been linked previously to potential takeovers of the Premier League club. The Taiwanese businessman, Richard Tsai, is also said to be part of the consortium. He is reportedly worth £7 billion.  Last year Earick, the former DJ and tech entrepreneur, was part of an attempted £4.5 billion takeover, which was “unequivocally rejected” by Spurs.  An ENIC spokesperson said: “We can confirm that neither ENIC nor THFC are aware of any sale by Daniel Levy’s Family Trust of its minority stake in ENIC, THFC’...
Post a Comment
Read more

Reports about Charlton sale exaggerated

Reports have appeared in The Guardian and elsewhere that Charlton has been put up for sale. Richard Cawley is an authoritative local journalist who runs a South London Sport substack site.  He reached out to the club yesterday evening to ask for comment on The Guardian’s article. Early indications from the club have been that nothing has changed since the story about them seeking investment, except that it is now a different company doing it. Charlton have since managed to consolidate their place in the Championship, avoiding an instant return to League One, with their women’s side promoted to the WSL, returning to the top flight for the first time since 2007, although staying there is likely to be costly. It would be counter-intuitive for owners Global Football Partners not to progress the club when looking for investment, that the focus remains on driving it forward, that their spend this summer is in line with long-term planning and will see an increase in wages spent on players...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hull City's 'strange' loan

When football finance guru Kieran Maguire seems flashing lights in a club's loan deal, I become concerned.  He is the leading football finance expert in the UK. Hull City have borrowed £55m against their stadium and training ground yet they should get £30m from the Premier League before long.  What is going on? https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cpwel48y51do
Post a Comment
Read more