Mansion win battle to sponsor Manchester United, £15m ($26.25m)/yr

Santo · Mar 5, 2006

Good news..

Richard Wachman
Sunday March 5, 2006
The Observer

Mansion, a little-known internet gambling group based in Gibraltar will soon become a household name: the company has won the battle to become Manchester United's new shirt sponsor.

The deal, for £60m over four years, is expected to be unveiled within days by the Glazer family, which took control of the club in an £800m takeover last year.

The sponsorship arrangements will be viewed as a coup for the club, as it dwarfs the current deal with Vodafone, which concludes at the end of the current season. Mansion, headed by Indonesian billionaire Putera Sampoerna, will yield Man Utd £15m a year against £9m from Vodafone. Mansion is understood to have beaten off stiff competition from Qatar Airways.

Vodafone is ending its shirt sponsorship contract two years early. The transaction comes at a time when United could do with a fillip to its financial position, which is under pressure. The club's relative failure on the pitch in recent seasons has cost them tens of millions of pounds in lost revenue from both the Premiership and Champions League.

The club's profits fell by £12.3m to £46m in its 2004-05 financial year, mainly through a drop in television income. United were recently ousted as the world's richest club by Real Madrid.

The Glazers, who also own the US football club Tampa Bay Buccaneers, would be forbidden under NFL rules from any tie-up with a gambling firm, but Man Utd is regarded as a separate commercial entity, so there are no regulatory hurdles.

The Mansion transaction is thought to be the most lucrative shirt sponsorship deal so far, beating Chelsea's £50m contract with electronic giant Samsung.

cincy_ · Mar 5, 2006

WOW.

If anyone is still worried about Mansion's finances, this should put an end to that.

ClipJoint · Mar 5, 2006

cincy_ said:
WOW.

If anyone is still worried about Mansion's finances, this should put an end to that.

I don't think anyone was ever worried about that. The owners wealth has always been well documented.

I still don't see why they would invest this kind of money to sponsor a team, but then again, their marketing and business approach has been suspect at best so far.

Santo · Mar 5, 2006

Because they want to compete with Betfair in the UK market, and the only way to do that is to get their name out there, as everyone has heard of Betfair..

Also Man Utd have a high club loyalty factor, so they're hoping to play on that to get people to try them I suspect.

cincy_ · Mar 5, 2006

Clip Joint said:
I don't think anyone was ever worried about that. The owners wealth has always been well documented.

I still don't see why they would invest this kind of money to sponsor a team, but then again, their marketing and business approach has been suspect at best so far.

Agree about the marketing, but sometimes billionaires do this from an egotistical standpoint. The guys from Mansion will now have open-access to Man Utd, and that is priceless.

When Shrink was still around, people with agendas floated rumors that Mansion would fail - the same thing people tried to do with Pinny. I remember Shrink sticking up for Mansion and saying this would never happen.

fookineejit · Mar 5, 2006

Looks like they are trying to get the soccer whales to leave Betfair and populate their exchange which is currently seeded by Mansion and has nowhere near the same volume despite a lower commission rate.

Personally I think they would need to introduce in-running markets to do so but seem reluctant to do this for some reason.

go2guy · Mar 5, 2006

Dumb move but it's his money to blow so........

zee · Mar 5, 2006

It's not a dumb move. Will it be a financial loss in the short term? Probably. However, the UK & Asia are a way bigger market than the US and Man Utd is especially popular in Asia, and especially hated in the UK. IMO, they're trying to reach reach the right audience.

Woody0 · Mar 5, 2006

It's interesting to read how our US posters Clipjoint and Cincy think this is a dumb move while Santo from the UK hits the nail on the head.

Guys this is like Mansion having their name on the Patriots or the Steelers shirts.

Labeeb · Mar 5, 2006

Clip Joint said:
I still don't see why they would invest this kind of money to sponsor a team, but then again, their marketing and business approach has been suspect at best so far.

This isn't just A team. It's still THE team when it comes to international soccer. I would argue that even with their last couple of campaigns in the EPL that their worldwide popularity dwarfs that of any other club.

go2guy · Mar 5, 2006

Woody0 said:
It's interesting to read how our US posters Clipjoint and Cincy think this is a dumb move while Santo from the UK hits the nail on the head.

Guys this is like Mansion having their name on the Patriots or the Steelers shirts.

For that amount of money though? It's not that I debate that having your name on a jersey doesn't bring some exposure but will it be worth it???

Santo · Mar 5, 2006

If you look at reach, a Manchester United shirt is probably seen by near 100% of their demographic in both the UK and Asia, as well as a large percentage around the world

Woody0 · Mar 5, 2006

Santo said:
If you look at reach, a Manchester United shirt is probably seen by near 100% of their demographic in both the UK and Asia, as well as a large percentage around the world

Asians are big gamblers with horse racing and soccer as their favourite bets.

zee · Mar 5, 2006

Guys this is like Mansion having their name on the Patriots or the Steelers shirts.

No. That's what you're missing. It's WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY bigger. NFL franchises are marketed on national level. Manchester United is a worldwide franchise. You can see Man UTD t-shirts in Bolivia, in Japan, in Russia and in Morroco. Mansion will be on all of them.

TTinCO · Mar 5, 2006

Wow-that's impressive. I agree, this is like sponsoring the Patriots in the US. HUGE move for them.

zee · Mar 5, 2006

Guys, I was just told by a friend that the sponsorship deal is with http://mansionpoker.com/ and not mansion.com(same brand, but the poker branch)...now, I'm kinda at a loss as to why that is. Anyone care to take a guess? I'd have thought it's way better to have the main site mansion.com on the shirts.

SportSavant · Mar 5, 2006

TTinCO said:
Wow-that's impressive. I agree, this is like sponsoring the Patriots in the US. HUGE move for them.

FRANKLY, I think it is alot BIGGER.....

anyone know how much MAN U is worth?

How much are the PATRIOTS worth?

furthermore.....

Gambling is much more prevalent in EUROPE & ASIA than AMERICA.... thus, this deal would generate alot more customers from a similar USA based team.....

Labeeb · Mar 5, 2006

I remember a few years ago that it was reported that Man U was worth well over 1 BILLION dollars. Like I said earlier, they are THE team in international sports. They laugh at US teams.

Labeeb · Mar 5, 2006

zee said:
Guys, I was just told by a friend that the sponsorship deal is with http://mansionpoker.com/ and not mansion.com(same brand, but the poker branch)...now, I'm kinda at a loss as to why that is. Anyone care to take a guess? I'd have thought it's way better to have the main site mansion.com on the shirts.

Maybe the FA doesn't want a sports wagering site sponsoring a team? Don't know much about EPL sponsorships.

SportSavant · Mar 5, 2006

Labeeb said:
I remember a few years ago that it was reported that Man U was worth well over 1 BILLION dollars. Like I said earlier, they are THE team in international sports. They laugh at US teams.

exactly as I suspected, I beleive this deal would DWARF a similar sponsership with the PATRIOTS for example.....