Murdoch Puts New Foot Forward
Remember the $311 million that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation shelled out to buy the Dodgers in March?
It was small change.
The latest target of the Australian-born media tycoon could cost him more than three times as much.
The British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSkyB), which is 40% owned by News Corporation, is offering a staggering $958 million for one of the world’s top soccer teams, Manchester United of England’s Premier League.
According to England’s Sunday Telegraph newspaper, the deal is being put together by the American investment banking firm of Goldman Sachs.
Manchester United, founded in 1878, is the world’s most financially successful club, with profits last season of $46 million. Floated on the London stock market in 1991 for $78 million, the club has a current market value of $689 million.
But the potential of pay-per-view television and the increasing prospect of a European Super League being formed make its value to BSkyB almost incalculable.
On the field, the club has long been one of the most successful in England, playing a stylish brand of soccer that has earned it 11 national championships, including four in the last six years, and nine F.A. cup titles. Bobby Charlton, George Best, Dennis Law, Eric Cantona and Ryan Giggs are only a handful of the many stars to have played for the “Red Devils” over the years.
Manchester United became a national institution after the Munich air crash of 1958 in which 23 people were killed, including eight United players.
The club’s Old Trafford stadium, often referred to as the “theatre of dreams,” seats 55,000 and is packed for most games. The waiting list for season tickets is several years long.
All that success and wealth has earned Manchester United a lot of envy and dislike among fans of rival teams. If Murdoch’s purchase goes through, that is unlikely to decrease.
Even fans of the team are a little suspect about the proposed sale, something Dodger fans can probably relate to.
Andy Walsh, a spokesman for the Manchester United Supporters’ Assn., told Reuters wire service on Sunday that fans would be disgusted if club chairman Martin Edwards accepted Murdoch’s offer, which could net Edwards $133.3 million for his 14% share of the club.
“The fans I have spoken to have demanded that Martin Edwards sells to anyone other than Rupert Murdoch,” Walsh said.
“Supporters will demand that anybody who has a controlling stake in Manchester United must put the interests of the club and football as paramount.”
The British government is also wary of the deal. BSkyB has held exclusive rights to broadcast Premier League games since 1992-93. Two years ago, it paid $1.08 billion to renew those rights until 2001. The purchase of Manchester United would give the television company even greater control of the league.
“My immediate feeling is that it is not something that can just be allowed to happen without any studying of the consequences,” Sports Minister Tony Banks told BBC television.
