Stock exchange and Asian markets serve United as springboard

Manchester United has been ruling English football since the Premier League was created in 1992. From then on, United has captured 12 Leagues and has been twice crowned European Champion. The Mancunian side is ahead in this year's overall standings with 56 points, as well as being the third club in the world in turnover -359.6 million in 2012-, trailing behind Real Madrid -512.6 million- and FC Barcelona, whose output is set at 483 million. The latest sponsorship deals with various agents across the Asian market and an upwards reassessment of the club shares have enables United managerial team to start over 2013 breaking all records, boasting of an all-time high 2,450-million enterprise value.

United is therefore the first sporting association to cross the 3,000-million firm value threshold, according a research carried out by Forbes. The upmarket magazine produces this data hinging on a particular enterprise own assets and debts contracted by the same firm. The boosting behind the English company has been three-fold: a rampant reservoir of shares in the Stock Exchange, various sponsorship deals struck with the Japanese paint producer Kansai, with the Construction Bank of China and with the Chinese soft drinks enterprise Wahaha -all of them in force for three more years-, as well as a hike in financial rewardings both in the Premiership and the Champions League. From 2014 onwards and until 2021, United is to sport the Chevrolet logo on its top in return for 452 million euros.

Shares gains momentum

The northern English club, owned by the Glazer family, went publicly traded at the end of August 2012, by means of 10.3 euro-shares -14 dollars-. Currently, United shares have risen to 12.6 euros -17 dollars- , bucking a downward trend recorded over the last months.

United entrepreneurial successes include building up a world-wide appealing asset whose cornerstone is innovation, experience and a mixture of seasoned players and up-and-coming values. During the 2011-12 season, four thousand million viewers across 211 countries were glued to their TV sets when the Red Devils were playing -49 million people each match-, according to Futures Data. 30 million people follow the Greater Manchester most popular side.

Chased by NFL sides

Paradoxically, neither Real Madrid nor FC Barcelona are competing with United in what firm value is concerned. The second largest sporting firm in the world are the Dallas Cowboys -1,500 million euros or 2,100 million dollars-.

However, the brand equity of these conglomerates is rather different than their enterprise value, specifies the very Forbes magazine. For instance, the New York Yankees, a baseball team, are estimated to be worth 283.8 million euros, followed by the very United -229 million- and Real -199 million-. In this particular ranking, the fourth place is claimed by the Dallas Cowboys, boasting of a 194.7-million brand value.