More than 220 million people are expected to tune in to one of the biggest sporting events in the world this Saturday — and it doesn’t have anything to do with LeBron James.
London’s Wembley Stadium is hosting a showdown between two of the richest and most popular global sports teams: the United European Football Association (UEFA) Champions League final between Manchester United and Barcelona. The annual tournament began in mid-July with 77 teams from the top tiers of Europe (and Israel), followed by a 16-team series of knockout games, all culminating in Saturday’s final. It could be worth as much as $525.4 million to the clubs and countries involved, up 5 percent over last year, according to a MasterCard survey.
For Fox Broadcast network, the match will provide an important measure of American sports fans’ — and advertisers’ — growing enthusiasm for professional soccer. Fox, the same broadcast network that airs the Super Bowl and the World Series, won rights to the Champions League final two years ago from ESPN. Last year’s final between Inter Milan and Bayern Munich drew a respectable 1.6 million U.S. viewers and nearly 170 Million viewers worldwide, even though the teams had relatively low profiles . By comparison, Wednesday night’s game 4 of the NBA Finals between the Bulls and the Heat drew 9.8 million.
This year, Fox is expecting 2.1 million U.S. viewers. That’s allowing the network to charge $285,000 to $400,000 for a 30-second spot. That may be small potatoes compared to the Super Bowl, where a 30-second spot can run $3 million, but it represents an opportunity for growth. Heineken is spending more than $40 million on advertising, according a marketing executive. Among the other big advertisers: BMW, Ford and Adidas.
Fox has good reason for optimism about this year’s match. Soccer’s popularity in America has been building steadily:. viewership of the 2010 World Cup 2010 was up 41% over the last four years. The final game between Holland and Spain drew 24.4 million U.S. viewers. Manchester United and Barcelona are among the most powerful and popular football teams in the world. They squared off against each other in the 2009 Champions League final, when Barcelona won 2-0.
We are treating this like the event that it is,” Fox Soccer’s General Manager David Nathanson told The New York Times. “Last year we had two strong teams in Inter and Bayern, but that can’t compare to this year’s dream matchup. We are expecting significant growth.”
Just having an English team in the final virtually guarantees higher U.S. ratings, and Man U. isn’t just any English football team. It is the second most valuable team sports brand on the planet (second only to the New York Yankees), according to Forbes.com, thanks to a combination of savvy sponsorship, merchandising and broadcast deals.
Having recently overtaken Liverpool for the record number of titles (20) in the English League, Man U is expected to top last season’s revenue of $493 million, according to Deloitte. In addition to their $23 million annual sponsorship deal with AIG, and the $98 million they have collected in domestic prize money and international TV rights, the Red Devils, as their fans call them, stand to make approximately $79 million over the entire season from the Champions League should they win on Saturday.
In talismanic striker Wayne Rooney, Manchester has the 7th highest paid soccer player in the world. Rooney’s earnings for the season will top $20 million. By comparison, Lebron James rakes in only $15.8 Million.
Both in terms of football and financials, Barcelona is the ideal foil for the Red Devils. Regarded as one of the strongest teams in the history of the Champions League, Barcelona is a scalpel to Man U’s blunt instrument. Barca is the 4th most valuable global sports brand in the Forbes ranking. Should they win, they stand to make a season total of $78 Million in prize and TV money from the competition.
Lionel Messi is Barca’s creative lynchpin and the second highest earner in world soccer, after David Beckham, with an annual salary of $14 million and a total annual income of $47 million.. A petite and polite Argentinean, Messi is as different from the rough-hewn Rooney as their two teams.
Even if underdog Man U manages to defeat Barca, a sure winner will be the city of London. Even with tickets starting at $350, the stadium’s 90,000 seats have already sold out. Scalpers are reported asking $3,000 a ticket. Last year, when the final was hosted in Madrid, the city raked in an estimated $82 million.
In a much smaller way, Woodwork, a soccer-themed bar in Brooklyn’s Prospect Heights neighborhood, also expects a trickle down from the game. Ross Greenberg, the bar’s owner and a Brooklyn native, says he was taking a big chance when he opened six months before the 2010 World Cup. Now he says he’s confident there are enough soccer fans to keep his business growing. “If you come in here on Saturday, you won't be able to find a seat,” he says. “Our A.C. is busted, so I'm trying to arrange for an ice sculpture of Messi.”
Related Links:
Best Champions League Final For Years (Seattle PI)
Champions League Final Could be Legendary – And Not Just for Soccer (Christian Science Monitor)
Champions League Final to Break Economic Records (Reuters)
