The Manchester derbyr is, without a doubt, one of the great games for the football industry. Between Manchester City and Manchester United they add up to more than €1.3 billion of business. With transfers, the figure exceeded €1.5 billion in 2022-2023, according to data extracted from 2Playbook Intelligence.
This Sunday, both teams face each other, at 12:30 in Argentina, at the Etihad Stadium, within the framework of the 27th round of the Premier League, and with new faces in the box.
One of the great novelties of this match is the recent entry of Jim Ratcliffe owner of Ineos, in the shareholding of Manchester United. The British billionaire He bought 27.7% of the club for Christmas for US$1,360 million (€1,235 million). The operation includes another US$300 million (€275 million) that will be injected directly into the entity to revitalize Old Trafford or directly build a new stadium. Although The Glazer family, from the United States, maintains the majority shareholding, Ratcliffe has free rein for sports planning. The goal: to be a fixture in the Champions League in a Premier League increasingly equal. In the last decade, the team was left out of the major club competition half of the seasons in which it participated.
This failure in sports and economics, made up for it with the great increase in its brand and its social mass. In the last two campaigns, its main line of business was commercial, which mainly includes sponsors and the sale of merchandising and product licenses.
Despite the team’s poor results, it did not stop growing in this area, until it exceeded €350 million in 2022-2023. This is one of the aspects that allowed the club to continue investing and be able to fight transfers to City from the rest of its European rivals.
Despite all this, the City it beats him. His weekend rival surpassed him after the pandemic and It obtained record commercial revenues of 399 million in the last season.
These are top numbers that are close to 50% of the total turnover of both clubs. United generated €758 million, 11% more compared to the previous year; while, the City obtained €834 million in ordinary income, 16% more or 100 million more than the year before winning his first Champions League. In fact, raising the bar was also key, since it allowed it to reach €350 million on television, where the company’s payments had an impact. UEFA and also, his triumph in the Premier, for which he earned €206 million. Meanwhile, its rival on Sunday was left with €244 million after not playing in the Champions League.
The only thing where United still beats City is on matchday, in those income related to match days, season tickets, ticketing or the sale of drinks in the stadium, and where the city’s red team is is in record numbers. In 2022-2023, it earned 160 million in this way, compared to the 84 million of its blue rival. This is 47% more.
Personnel expenses
On the expenditure side, it is worth highlighting the balance of the City facing the disparate path of the Red Devils. The team of Pep Guardiola It practically froze its personnel spending (which includes the salaries of the professional staff) at around €410 million since the pandemic. Here it must be mentioned that in 2022-2023 there were bonuses and bonuses for the treble that skyrocketed the fee to €495 million. Something in line with the increase in income. While, United, and here Ratcliffe has a great challenge, It went from €375 million to €478 million between 2020-2021 and 2021-2022, to return to €387 million in the last campaign. With these commitments, practically all television and matchday billing is lost. The sum of both clubs gives €882 million allocated to personnel, to which another 394 million are added for the rest of operating expenses.
In this point, signings are key. The amortization for acquiring players is higher in the United, that exceeds €200 million, compared to City’s €170 million. And the capital gains from transfers are much greater in the skyblue team, which obtained record profits of €143 million in this way, compared to €23 million for United. All this led to the City achieved a record profit of €92 million in 2022-2023, and added three consecutive years of profit, while its archrival in the city accumulated almost €300 million in losses since the 2019-2020 season.
However, not everything is rosy for him. City, since the club is being investigated by the premier, and the resolution seems close, due to a long list of alleged breaches of the financial rules of the English league since 2009. The sanction could even lead to relegation.
Besides, Ratcliffe He has already begun to move the chips and, within the drastic change he is looking for in United, His first action was to appoint former Barcelona Omar Berrada, who served as director of operations for the citizens, as the new CEO of the red team.
Beyond Sunday’s result, it seems difficult to imagine which path the Manchester derby will take in the coming years.
Source: Ambito
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
