Demise of European Super League leaves owners of Man U and Arsenal with a conundrum
Teams’ value can only be realised by selling, but no rational buyers will pay billions of dollars for clubs
Soccer is not a very good business. That’s why the billionaire owners of Manchester United and Arsenal wanted to join the ill-fated European Super League. Now that those plans have combusted, the owners are left with teams whose value can only be realised by selling up. The problem is, there are no rational buyers for clubs with a sticker price in the billions of dollars.
United fans perennially complain about how much money the Florida-based Glazer family has taken out of the club since buying it in 2005. From a combination of dividends, consulting fees, proceeds from the 2012 initial public offering and a $96m stake sale just last month, the Glazers have received, by my calculations, about $375m in cash from Man Utd since 2005...
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