Minicase: How much is Manchester United's brand worth?
In recent years, the valuation of sports teams has become an increasingly important financial topic. Part of the reason is the astronomical salaries that sports stars command. Additionally, some stars become celebrities outside of the arena also, with lucrative sponsorships, extravagant lifestyles, and an icon of the rich and famous David Beckham, the British soccer player is one prominent example. As a personal brand, Beckham was valued by Forbes at $20 million in 2013 (http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mlm45jemm/4-david-beckham/). Beckham came up with Manchester United, often cited as the world's most valuable soccer club. The Red Devils, as they are called, were bought by the Glazer family from the United States in a leveraged buyout in 2005. To cash in on its brand value and pay down debt, the new owners decided to go public in 2012. The IPO on the New York stock exchange offered shares at $14 apiece, making the capitalized value of the club about $2.3 billion. The shares did poorly at first but soared in 2013. By end of January, the share price stood at just under $17, with Manchester United's stock outperforming the S&P 500. The increase in its stock price pushed up Manchester United's value (equity plus debt) to $3.3 billion, the highest value of any team in the world. But in the ensuing Champions League tournament, Manchester did not perform all that well, and the club was overtaken by competitors. One was Real Madrid, a perennial foe. The Spanish team posted greater returns in its annual report for 2012-2013, with the highest returns of any team in sports ($650 million during the 2011-2012 season), and revenues up 62% over the last 3 years. Signing superstars Cristiano Ronaldo and, more recently, Gareth Bale has led to increasing income from advertising and sponsorships as well as attendance and television. The club has an equipment supply deal with Adidas worth $42 million a year. It has signed a new sponsorship deal with Emirates Airlines to put its name on the team's shirts, a contract worth $39 million annually for 5 years. As a result, the value of Real Madrid increased to $3.4 billion, narrowly beating out Manchester United. Real Madrid did better than Manchester United in the Champions League but was still beaten in the semifinals. In the final, two German teams met. Bayern Munich, a 10-time finalist, defeated Borussia Dortmund by a score of 2-1. As a result, the winning German club vaulted to first place in the soccer team brand ratings, as published by BrandFinance, a brand equity rating firm headquartered in London that covers brand equity sports ratings. BrandFinance calculates the value of the brand equity in terms of an equivalent royalty rate: if a team would license its name to a third party, how much would it be able to charge. This allows the company to focus only on brand equity, expressed in terms of dollar value. The brand equity rankings after the 2013 Champions League final from BrandFinance show the top three teams as follows:
1. Bayern Munich - Brand value: $868 million
2. Manchester United - Brand value: $845 million
3. Real Madrid - Brand value: $627 million.
The estimated value of Bayern Munich using the enterprise value (equity and debt) calculation used for the Manchester United and Real Madrid above is about $1.3-1.5 billion. That is, the enterprise values of the three teams as of late summer 2013 are as follows:
1. Real Madrid - Team value: $3.4 billion
2. Manchester United - Team value: $3.3 billion
3. Bayern Munich - Team value: $1.3-1.5 billion
In fact, Bayern Munich is also beaten by one arch-rival, Barcelona, at $2.6 billion, and is virtually tied by London's Arsenal.
Questions:
1. Why is there a difference between the stock market valuation of a sports team and its brand value?
2. If brand equity represents allegiance to a brand, what would you say determines the brand equity of a soccer team (or any sports team)?
3. What factors would you say determine the value of a soccer team (or any sports team)?
4. Use the difference between your answers in Questions 2 and 3 to explain why Bayern Munich could lead in brand equity but still not be the most valuable team.
