Manchester United is an internationally known football team and now the franchise can claim to be the most valuable.
According to Forbes.com, Manchester United has become the first sports team in the world with a $3 billion valuation. The team is a publically traded company and went public last summer at $14 per share. After starting off slow, the number has been doing much better lately, rising to just under $17.
The valuation is welcome news for the Glazer family, who owns the team as well as the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, as well as for George Soros, who bought a large stake in the team. The valuation now sits at $3.3 billion, which is much higher than the second team ion the list, the NFL's Dallas Cowboys, worth $2.1 billion.
According to Forbes: "the appetite for shares of the 19-time English champion has increased due to brighter earnings prospects from new sponsorship deals with Japan's Kansai, and China Construction Bank, and the potential of much more lucrative English Premiership (Manchester United currently is in first place) and Champions League payouts this year."
The game of football is huge around the world and it is getting bigger in the United States as well. Another reason for the success of the team is the expansion of Internet and television access around the world.
Manchester United is currently in first in the Barclays Premier League with 56 points, going 18-2-3 over 23 matches played. The team has scored 57 goals and has allowed 30. According to the NY Post, the team averages 49 million viewers per game, and their Facebook page has 30 million likes. The team also claims to have 659 million followers worldwide
Money, money, money makes the world go round. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is keeping a close eye on that valuation and will look to reach that number in the future.
