In Midst of Champions League Campaign Man U Turn to Asia for Revenue
Manchester United are presently fully focused on their Premier and Champions League campaigns, most bookmakers have them as third favourites to win in Europe, the best odds being 119/10 at betfair.
Manchester United are presently fully focused on their Premier and Champions League campaigns, most bookmakers have them as third favourites to win in Europe, the best odds being 119/10 at betfair.
However, while the action is firmly focused in Europe, the football club’s former director for corporate development in the UK, Jamie Reigle, has his eyes firmly on Asia. He has announced that the club will be opening its first Asia office in Hong Kong by the end of the year.
In general the Premier League is busy targeting Asia; Reigle said that of the 50 million fans who watched Manchester United games last year, around 10 million of them were Indonesian.
According to Reigle the team has “thrice as many Indonesian Facebook fans compared to our English fans”, in total there are 27 million Facebook fans on its page.
Most of the clubs revenue in Asia comes from merchandise sales and sponsorship deals.
Last year over 5 million branded licensed products were sold in 130 countries through 200 licensees.
At present the club is looking for partners to provide exclusivity to consumers in Asia. For example, the snacking brand Mister Potato, a Malaysian company, is the official snacking partner for the club.
