Premier League football club Sunderland is targeting major US cities that identify with its industrial heritage as tougher financial rules push England’s leading clubs to seek out fresh sources of revenue. Tom Burwell, the club’s chief executive, said he wanted to tap into Sunderland’s history of mining and shipbuilding, as well as its regeneration this century, as a way to drive interest in the team beyond its home in north-east England.
“Our opportunity is
to build on an identity and a business that’s deeply rooted in the 30km radius
of Sunderland,” he told the FT. “It’s our responsibility to land that story in
markets that we’re able to, then grow fan bases and ultimately grow revenues.”
Burwell singled out Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Detroit as big post-industrial
cities where Sunderland’s story had struck a chord during their recent
pre-season tour of the US. “Our view on North America is to be highly targeted
alongside partners and distribution platforms, and wrap our very authentic
story up and tell that story to people that’s going to resonate,” he added.
Impact of new finance rules
Sunderland’s push comes as new rules on club finances
introduced this season reshape spending by England’s biggest teams, helping
fuel a record summer of buying and selling. Regulations known as Squad Cost
Rules, which aim to promote financial sustainability, limit the amount teams
can spend on players unless profits are generated by player trading.
However, clubs that generate strong turnover off the pitch
will have more freedom to spend on their squads and facilities while teams
playing in European competition face even tighter limits. Next week Sunderland
will play its first European fixture since 1973.
Burwell acknowledged that the rules had “put a lot of
challenge and opportunity on the business” but added that they could help
because “as a club of substance we can build sustainable and strong revenue”.
Sunderland’s pre-season tour took them to the US states of
New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. “What we found is Philadelphia really
resonated strongly,” Burwell told the Pink ‘Un, as did Pittsburgh and Detroit,
two cities “with major sports organisations that represented their community. I
don’t think that Los Angeles and New York are going to be our places because
they’re not.”
Tie up with the Elvis Presley estate
The club has also agreed a tie-up with the Elvis Presley
estate to sell its pink-and-black Elvis Cadillac-themed away shirt at
Graceland, a nod to the club’s supporters regularly singing “Can’t Help Falling
in Love”.
Sunderland’s move further enmeshes the Premier League, the
richest in world football, with American consumers and capital markets. Twelve
of the 20-team league are owned by US investors. Norton Rose Fulbright, the law
firm, estimated that US capital featured in more than half of all football
merger and acquisition transactions completed globally last year.
Jeff Bezos, the billionaire Amazon founder, last month
bought a minority stake in Liverpool football club, while Chelsea agreed to a
shirt sponsorship with Circle Internet, whose stablecoin is akin to a digital
dollar for the cryptocurrency market.
Sunderland is
majority owned by Swiss investor Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, a scion of the wealthy
Louis-Dreyfus family, with a minority stake held by Uruguayan businessman Juan
Sartori, who is head of special projects at stablecoin group Tether. Burwell told
the Financial Times that there were no plans to sell a stake in the club.
“We’re very clear on who we are and we’re three years into a multiyear capital
investment programme.”
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