ManU is "on track to become the highest grossing football club ever," according to Leah Gillooly of MARKETING MAGAZINE. A "record-breaking sponsorship deal" with adidas has made a "significant financial impact" on the club, but it is not "the only reason" it is doing so well. According to Deloitte's 2015 Annual Review of Football Finance, commercial revenue accounts for "just 27% of revenue" for all Premier League clubs. For ManU "that figure is 50%." That "tells us the club is making considerably more of its global profile, and its global and regional sponsorship portfolios." At £75M ($114.1M) a year, the "lion’s share of that commercial revenue" comes from the adidas sponsorship. Under adidas, ManU has "taken ownership of key commercial ventures previously operated by Nike, like the club Megastore." While the club "now has to bear the cost of operating its retail and merchandising arms, it now retains 100% of the profits." Given the profiles of ManU in overseas markets, this "ability to control merchandise sales is a huge bonus." With the adidas deal, "a large proportion" of ManU's sponsorship income is guaranteed over the next nine years. Any continued growth will "have to come from the more uncertain enhanced revenues associated with progress in competitions like the Champions League or the more controllable increases in additional commercial revenue, through sponsorship and licensing deals" (MARKETING MAGAZINE, 11/17).
