Manchester United Seeks To Boost Profile In India
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Gill Says ManU Making Concerted Effort
To Expand Commercial Interests In India |
English Premier League (EPL) club Manchester United (ManU), hoping to "expand their commercial interests" will turn their attention to India, one of the "last significant untapped markets for football in the world," according to Kelso & Ramesh of the Manchester GUARDIAN. ManU CEO David Gill Thursday said that the club "would be making a concerted effort to capitalise on the popularity of the [EPL] on the subcontinent" and added that "gaining a commercial foothold in India was a priority." ManU will play a friendly in India, "perhaps as soon as next summer." Gill: "India is interesting. We have been approached to go there and we are looking at some soccer school opportunities there. We would not rule out going there." Kelso & Ramesh note ManU has "blazed a trail for [EPL] clubs seeking to expand into foreign markets," as the team has traveled to Japan, South Korea, China and Saudi Arabia on recent overseas tours. But Gill is "not the first [EPL CEO] to have his head turned by the economic potential of India," as Chelsea CEO Peter Kenyon "has gone there twice in the past two years to explore the possibilities, Tottenham Hotspur this year held discussions about playing a friendly in Bengal, and Everton have run coaching schemes in India." The Indian Premier League cricket league, which in January signed a $1B TV deal with Sony and "generated close to $2[B] from a standing start in six months ... has confirmed that India's rapidly expanding middle class represents a huge commercial opportunity." The league "was based in part on the football model," and the EPL is "already a popular commodity in India." ESPN Star currently holds EPL TV rights in India and, "although the total value of the contract is worth less to the [EPL] than Hong Kong or Scandinavia, it doubled in value during the last round of TV rights negotiations." Kelso & Ramesh write there is "a parallel to be drawn with football's status in China in the early 90s, where television was the decisive factor in spreading the game." It was "only when the [EPL] started to broadcast in China and televisions were privately owned that the game took off" (Manchester GUARDIAN, 7/25).
ACTIVATION: In London, James Ducker reports once ManU primary sponsor AIG "has settled on the right partner," ManU expects to "launch a credit card in India in the next six months." Also "being given serious consideration" is "establishing a series of football schools in the country, much as they have elsewhere in the world." Of ManU's estimated 333 million fans worldwide, "[20 million] live in India's urban population, more than half of whom are said to be 'core' fans" (LONDON TIMES, 7/25).
AMERICA CALLING? The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Jon Weinbach reports a handful of club teams from Europe -- Chelsea, Arsenal, Everton and Portugal's Benfica -- have been working to "establish outposts" in the U.S. The clubs' goal is to "tap into the massive U.S. youth soccer market, which has about four million registered male players." However, the American soccer establishment "is skeptical," as some soccer execs "think the European clubs are more interested in ginning up marketing dollars than cultivating American strikers." Thus far, Arsenal, Everton and Chelsea "have committed to creating new academies or have established formal ties with U.S. youth clubs in Colorado, Pennsylvania and North Carolina." French club AS Monaco also "just signed a wide-ranging partnership with a top youth team in Chicago," while Benfica "now funds junior teams in New Jersey and Arizona" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 7/25).
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