United buck economic trend but still ‘only taking baby steps’

MANCHESTER UNITED are only “taking baby steps” with their new commercial strategy, despite managing to unveil three major deals in a week.

For all the anti-Glazer rhetoric, it is being ignored that at a time of worldwide economic strife, the Old Trafford outfit is raking in cash like never before. Critics may argue a vast portion of this is coming through steep ticket price increases, but on the commercial side, the numbers are definitely adding up.

Instead of securing sweeping sponsorship contracts, which tends to be the footballing tradition, a more regionalised approach has been implemented. It allowed United to cement a deal to give Telekom Malaysia exclusive online content rights in Malaysia, and another for mobile content rights to MTN in South Africa.