Saturday is an especially great day for soccer fans. Europe's top two clubs face-off in the UEFA Champions League final at storied Wembley Stadium in London. Essentially, it is the ultimate grudge match that every soccer fan in the world is looking forward to. Even those that hate both the red devils and the Catalans.
First, a few interesting business facts. Manchester United (who just won the English Barclay's Premier league for the 19th time) is the number one ranked soccer club in the world based on market value and has been for the last five years. The club is currently worth $1.8 billion and this amount includes earnings from gate receipts (Old Trafford has seating capacity of 76,000), endorsement deals, TV revenues and merchandising. Just for comparison purposes, the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey franchise (ranked number one in the NHL) is worth $505 million (or less than a third). Manchester United is the most valuable sports franchise in any sport surpassing the Dallas Cowboys ($1.7 billion) and the New York Yankees ($1.6 billion).
FC Barcelona, on the other hand, is ranked number five in the world among soccer clubs with its market value pegged at $1.0 billion. It actually earned more revenue than Manchester United this past year attributable mostly to its larger Camp Nou stadium (98,800 stadium capacity). However, the team's lucrative broadcasting deal with its financially distressed partner is in jeopardy. Barcelona boasts one of the world's most electrifying footballers in Argentina's Lionel Messi who earned $32 million. Nicknamed "the flea", Lionel has endorsement deals with Adidas, Audemars Piguet and AirEuropa.
Interestingly, whereas most professional soccer teams (as well as local youth amateur teams) sell the sponsorship rights of the front of a team's jersey to the highest bidder, Barcelona traditionally donates the (primary advertising) space to UNICEF. This is a much lauded rarity in soccer (and most sports for that matter). However, given the power of the Euro, Barcelona recently announced that the front of their jersey next season will be emblazoned with the Qatar Foundation logo. This is yet another sign of how middle-eastern investors are clamoring to get a piece of the global soccer action. Oh yeah, the sponsorship fee for that sacred real estate was 165 million Euros over five years!
The cheapest ticket prices for today's game went on sale at 176 pounds (which is about $276 CAD). That's the most expensive seat ever for a Champions League final and it even topped last summer's World Cup tickets in South Africa. Of course, the best seats in the house will set you back a small fortune and that's assuming you got in line to buy them back in February. If you want to just show up and buy from scalpers, get ready to mortgage your house.
But alas, I won't be at Wembley myself. I'll be watching the game from the comfort of my La-Z-Boy. I'll be wearing a Manchester United jersey and my kids will be sporting Barcelona. This will keep the house balanced. In addition to the on-field action, there are some interesting sub-plots as well. Pep Guardiola is expected to lead a team from the sidelines that some say is the greatest ever assembled. While Sir Alex Ferguson is indisputably recognized as the best soccer manager in the world, ever! Edwin Van der Sar is Manchester's 40 year old goalkeeper and will be playing in the final match of his career. Even the uncertainty caused by the flying ash of the Grimsvotn volcano has forced Barcelona to change its air travel plans.
All in all, I expect an exciting match during which Barca's passing carousel gets intermittently interrupted by Rooney's madman angst. Frankly, I just want to see a lot of goals. After all, I'm a striker and nothing beats the bulge of the onion bag at Wembley.
Dr. Nick Bontis currently plays soccer for Proto of the Hamilton & District First Division old-timers league and Schalke FC of the Ontario Soccer League. He is also head coach for the Hamilton Sparta 2003 boys team (www.HamiltonSparta2003.com) and director for the Hamilton Soccer Hall of Fame.
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