Sponsors band together in Manly bid

[Eagle1963]

Thurston is worth just over $1m per year compared to 50% of a successful NRL team valued at $4-5m.??
Thurston can buy his own footy team after 4yrs.

 

[Hamster Huey]

Owning a football club is like owning a racehorse or a yacht, you don't get into it to make money, it's exactly the opposite, they all burn money, you do it for the pleasure, it's just that you have to minimize your losses.

What about Manchester United, Liverpool, Real Madrid, the New York Yankees . . .

I read an article a few years ago that Manchester United, Real Madrid and Liverpool all have massive debt. They just have owners that can afford to keep piling up the debt. It can't last forever...

Last I read, ManU had ~$300m UKP debt to service. And pretty much every top level club through Europe trades under the same burden. It is only the mega-dollars they turnover annually with their various deals and merchandise, which keeps the creditors from getting antsy.

 

[Peter C]

Owning a football club is like owning a racehorse or a yacht, you don't get into it to make money, it's exactly the opposite, they all burn money, you do it for the pleasure, it's just that you have to minimize your losses.

What about Manchester United, Liverpool, Real Madrid, the New York Yankees . . .

I read an article a few years ago that Manchester United, Real Madrid and Liverpool all have massive debt. They just have owners that can afford to keep piling up the debt. It can't last forever...

Last I read, ManU had ~$300m UKP debt to service. And pretty much every top level club through Europe trades under the same burden. It is only the mega-dollars they turnover annually with their various deals and merchandise, which keeps the creditors from getting antsy.

Basically, Man U today is a clothing and merchandise company that also happens to own a football team.
I was absolutely gobsmacked at the size of it's merchandise shop at Old Trafford, there were around sixty sales terminals, and they have a huge internet business as well.