The return of Cristiano Ronaldo to his former club, Manchester United, may be a big boost to its economic fortune, according to the club, which had suffered a loss of £92.2m.
According to a report by Sports Business, as at June 30, 2021, the total revenue generated by the Manchester club was £494.1m compared to £509m recorded in the 2019/20 season.
A statement on Man U’s website earlier in the month noted that the club generated £68.1m in the first 72 hours of CR-7’s returns from ‘Ronaldo 7’ shirt sales, setting a new English Premier League record of the fastest selling shirt.
The Executive Vice Chairman, Ed Woodward, said the club’s commercial model enabled it to continue to make important additions to its playing squad during the summer.
“We were delighted to welcome back Ronaldo to the club, along with Raphael Varane, Jadon Sancho and Tom Heaton, to further reinforce the progress that our first team has been making under Ole. This was made possible by the strength of our operating model, with sustained investment in the team underpinned by robust commercial models.
“Everyone associated with Man U can be proud of the resilience we have shown through the challenges created by the pandemic, and we look forward to the rest of the season and beyond with great optimism,” says Woodward.
Man U recorded a reduction in its commercial revenue at £46.8m at a rate of 16.8 per cent, Year-on-Year. Revenue from sponsorship was £140.2m, reflecting a reduction of £42.5m pounds (23.3 per cent Y-o-Y).
Also, the club generated £92m from retail, merchandising, product licensing and apparel, which was at a reduction of £4.3m (4.5 per cent Y-o-Y).
Due to matches being watched behind closed doors for a larger part of 2020/2021, the club made only £7.1m. Compared to the previous year, it got £89.8m from ticket sales.
All attention now shifts to the Portuguese, as he is expected to further be a source of income for United through commercials and merchandising.
Ronaldo made his transfer back to United from Juventus during the summer window with £12.86ma after spending three years at the Italian club.
Juve recorded a loss twice as high for the year-end of June 30, 2021 at over £180m ($245.7m) when the Coronavirus Disease affected its business model.
