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Old 01-18-2005, 11:54 AM   #6
tanglewood
College Benchwarmer
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Man Utd, as most large British clubs are, is a PLC trading on the stock market. It's current worth in market capitalization (share price X numer of shares in circulation) is £695m or $1.3bn. However, this is FAR in excess of any other English club, as Man U is a true global marketing phenomenon. For comparison, Tottenham (the first club to go PLC in the late 80's) are worth £33m, Newcastle £59m and Birmingham £15m.

On the continent, having a publicly owned company is rarer, the majority of them being privately owned (e.g. AC Milan) or collectively owned by the fans (most famously, FC Barcelona). Some large European clubs quoted on the stock exchange are Juventus ($220m), Lazio ($34m) and Dortmund ($52m).

Realistically, the only football clubs that are as financially big as an NFL franchise are Man Utd and Real Madrid, both of which are probably biger than any single NFL franchise. However, below these two even clubs that are their equals on the pitch and historically such as Millan, Juve, Liverpool, Arsenal and Bayern Munich have either a lack of resources or desire to expand into becoming a global brand as the two aformentioned giants. Man Utd and Real have always been the two most glamourus clubs in Europe, it has just always been that way since the 50's due to their unique histories. Even when Utd and Real were not even competing for thophies for years at a stretch, those two retained a sense of history and speciallness that other clubs can only aspire to reach one day. It is this factor that aids them so much in their marketing abroad and in the far east.
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