English champions Manchester United are scheduled to play an exhibition match in Indonesia for the first time at the end of their season, according to a report in Today (Thursday, January 15, 2009).
The tour will take in China, South Korea and Malaysia as well.
The last time they played in Beijing, China, the stadium was half-empty and so Shanghai is the next probable city to play in.
An appearance by Manchester United, while ostensibly for fans to watch them play live, is also a chance to pick up some easy cash.
Each appearance will cost probably no less than S$6 million and by the time their new season starts, Man Utd will have a tidy S$24 million haul with flights and accommodations all paid for as well. That’s enough to pay the salary of Man Utd’s Wayne Rooney for two years.
Man Utd will not play in Singapore. Given how poorly received a Ronaldinho-led Brazilian Olympic team was in Singapore in 2008 – only 35,000 fans showed up – it looks like no sponsor was also willing to throw good money after bad.
The English Premier League derives a significant portion of its income from broadcast rights fees globally, with teams like Man Utd a significant beneficiary of having their games broadcast all over Asia.
In Singapore, StarHub paid an estimated S$250 million for the local rights to broadcast the EPL from 2007 to 2009. They of course turned around and charged Singaporeans subscribers for it. An estimated 300,000 households on this island pay StarHub $26.75 a month or S$96.3 million a year for their EPL fix, a mind-boggling amount.
The Singapore Sports Council, by contrast, works on an annual budget of about S$130 million.
REDpoll
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