Glazers set to score with Man U sale

Early bidders for Manchester United are pitching “competing visions” for the football club, says the Financial Times. The Glazer family puts its stake in the New York-listed business that owns the team up for sale three months ago. Now the first contender has gone public. Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, the son of Qatar’s former prime minister, announced his interest, emphasising plans to bolster the balance sheet and invest in the club’s facilities. He was followed a few hours later by Jim Ratcliffe (pictured), the founder of chemicals group Ineos, who stressed the importance of “rebuilding fractured ties with the United fan base and halting the march of foreign ownership in English football”. While Premier League rival Chelsea fetched $3bn last year, Manchester United – one of the world’s most valuable sporting businesses – is likely to beat the $4.65bn spent on the Denver Broncos National Football League (NFL) franchise last year, says Bloomberg.

Its highest recent share price valued it at $4.4bn. “Such high prices raise the question of how the new owners will make money,” says Streisand Neto on Breakingviews. “One idea is to wring more cash from a global army of fans.” Manchester United has 14 times more Instagram followers than the Dallas Cowboys, but the NFL side’s revenue is 58% higher. Yet the influx of cash may simply end up in players’ pockets. Club earnings show wages and transfers rise with revenues. “Increasingly wealthy owners may just end up bidding against each other to sign stars chasing sporting success at the cost of financial oblivion.”