EPL club Manchester United is "considering a lucrative return to Asia" for its preseason tour next summer, a move that "would be welcomed by leading club sponsors eager to boost their profile in the region," according to James Ducker of the LONDON TIMES. ManU manager Louis van Gaal was "granted his wish for a scaled-back tour of the United States this month" after he complained publicly "about the club’s hectic travel schedule on last summer’s visit." The club was "able to accommodate Van Gaal’s requests quite easily" since its commercial responsibilities were "cut drastically" because of the club’s new $1.2B (all figures U.S.) kit deal with adidas not starting until Saturday. ManU "had 71 public engagements this summer compared with 184 in the US 12 months ago and could expect a similarly high figure in Asia." Chevrolet, whose seven-year shirt sponsorship deal with ManU is worth about $558M, and Aon, which sponsors the training kit and team HQ for $35.1M annually through '21, are "keen to raise their profile in Asia." When Chevrolet was "launched as United’s official automotive partner at the Shanghai car show" in '12, the event "generated one billion page impressions in a fortnight -- more than the company got for funding a costly marketing campaign at the Super Bowl." It underlined to Chevrolet the "power of United’s brand in the Asian market" (LONDON TIMES, 7/30).
