To the football valuation story above, there are more salient conclusions:-
1. Despite claimed fan numbers, the reality is that Man Utd et al don't know how many fans they have. Their databases are a fraction of the size of Tik Tok etc.
2. Their valuations are already a very racy multiple of their relatively low profits (in a good year), and they've been around a long time. The world's two largest clubs are struggling with huge debt burdens.
3. Their medium term prospects are threatened by stagnating major revenue streams in terms of domestic media rights and sponsorship, and ground to make up with pandemic-related losses.
Major football clubs may be able to change their business models to break through the 'trophy asset' barrier, but there is a great deal of change required in the football ecosystem for that to happen.
Agree it's a primitive comparison, and comes with huge caveats. But the interesting bit from my pov is how strongly the club-as-platform argument is being pushed. Have a listen to the podcast with Lucas, it's a more nuanced viewpoint, and he's very good on the fallacy of fan numbers.
I will listen, and can totally understand why clubs wants to position themselves as platforms. The only (major) problem is that they don't have individual control of their most monetisable asset - access to live coverage of their matches. So as platforms go, they are a bit shaky!
To the football valuation story above, there are more salient conclusions:-
1. Despite claimed fan numbers, the reality is that Man Utd et al don't know how many fans they have. Their databases are a fraction of the size of Tik Tok etc.
2. Their valuations are already a very racy multiple of their relatively low profits (in a good year), and they've been around a long time. The world's two largest clubs are struggling with huge debt burdens.
3. Their medium term prospects are threatened by stagnating major revenue streams in terms of domestic media rights and sponsorship, and ground to make up with pandemic-related losses.
Major football clubs may be able to change their business models to break through the 'trophy asset' barrier, but there is a great deal of change required in the football ecosystem for that to happen.
Agree it's a primitive comparison, and comes with huge caveats. But the interesting bit from my pov is how strongly the club-as-platform argument is being pushed. Have a listen to the podcast with Lucas, it's a more nuanced viewpoint, and he's very good on the fallacy of fan numbers.
I will listen, and can totally understand why clubs wants to position themselves as platforms. The only (major) problem is that they don't have individual control of their most monetisable asset - access to live coverage of their matches. So as platforms go, they are a bit shaky!