Yes, Manchester City can get even richer…
CLV Group says more money lies in understanding what fans want and it could be the first club to turnover £1bn
After their emphatic 4-0 victory over Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final on Wednesday, Manchester City's trophy cabinet may be swelled in the next three weeks by the addition of a first-ever ‘Treble’ (English Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League titles).
This rare achievement will consolidate their status on the pitch as a football powerhouse following Sheikh Mansour’s takeover in 2008. Off the pitch, City is well on its way to becoming the world’s first £1bn turnover football club – Deloitte has them top of their 2022 Money League with revenues of £731m, followed by Real Madrid with £714m.
Yet the club is presented with a golden opportunity to capitalise on its growing global fanbase (up by an astonishing 523% in 2022) and boost revenues even further, according to Neil Joyce, CEO of CLV Group - the leading data and insights company for sport and entertainment.
With millions of passionate global supporters – City are the 9th most supported football club worldwide with approx. 87m followers across social media alone - the club can leverage its international solid following to boost income streams in that race to £1bn turnover.
“Digital platforms offer an excellent opportunity for Man City to engage with their global fans and generate additional revenue,” explains Joyce.
“The club should leverage social media platforms, create more exclusive content, and build a vibrant online community. By offering premium subscriptions or exclusive access to behind-the-scenes content, live matches, or interactive experiences, the club can attract a new loyal following and generate recurring revenue. I think they can be the first football club to turnover £1bn in the next 3-5 years”
Joyce believes global fans crave a deeper level of engagement with their club and while the technology exists to engage with them, most clubs focus on lower-funnel fans who are well-known to them. “Many major football clubs already have enormous global reach but most of those fans will never make it to a game. In most cases, a few fans – if they’re lucky - will get to see a pre-season tour game or a meet-and-greet at a shopping centre.”
According to Joyce, the rise of club-focused content and the rapid growth of streaming services emphasise the importance of clubs offering global fan ecosystems that connect fans, the club, and partners/sponsors. This includes collaborations in entertainment, as exemplified by Beyonce's upcoming performances at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in north London and Sunderland’s Stadium of Light. The increasing demand for content and digital experiences further supports this notion.
“There’s a real opportunity to revolutionise loyalty and reward fans with what they want, raising revenue in the process, but clubs need to increase the pace on how they invest and mobilise these opportunities. Web 3.0, and in particular token-based memberships, have the potential to form the backbone of next-generation loyalty schemes akin to those of retailers and airlines where fans get the benefits they want, in an ecosystem they value, while clubs capture first-party data and drive new revenue streams,” Joyce says.
Across Manchester, rivals Manchester United are edging towards a record multi-billion-pound sale of the club. Joyce believes the new ownership should look to increase revenues and brand/club value by engaging more directly with the 1.1bn global Manchester United fans – a large proportion of which are completely unknown to the club.
“The bidders for Manchester United have a fantastic opportunity to be at the forefront of embracing new technologies and innovations to deliver direct-to-fan propositions. The club claims to have 1.1bn fans and followers across the world, but our insight shows that clubs only know and understand less than 5% of their fanbase. Unlocking the potential of the unknown 95% global fanbase can reap huge benefits in terms of increased revenue which in turn can increase the future valuation of the club by £1bn-£2bn,” he says.