• US brands top list of first-ever worldwide rating
• United more valuable than the Champions League
Brand United - Old Trafford.
Manchester
United have been rated the eighth most
valuable sports brand in the world in a new study which for the
first time has assessed the comparative worths of 200 brands across
the sporting spectrum.
Brands from the United States head the list compiled by
SportsPro magazine, with the National Football League's value of
$4.5bn (£2.75bn) ranking it No1, ahead of Major League Baseball
($3.936bn), and the National Basketball Association ($2.344bn).
United are valued at $1.495bn, three places and £200m behind the
Fifa World Cup, worth $1.7bn.
The headline success story is the fledgling Indian Premier League which despite being two
seasons old is rated only a place and £100m less valuable than the
World Cup, the flagship property of the planet's most popular
sport.
The Premier League, though, was not considered in the analysis.
"The EPL and some other leagues did not make the list because they
are owned by the clubs and are effectively revenue distribution
entities not properties," said Tom Rubython, the editor-in-chief of
SportsPro.
"As in the case of the EPL shares are returned on a team's
relegation and handed over to the promoted teams. Effectively they
are like a mutual – ie, an old-fashioned building society. The EPL
is obviously valuable but not in a monetary sense, which is why the
top teams in Europe will eventually form their own league they can
actually own.
"Conversely the NFL – and
all the other leagues in the table – is a permanent league with no
promotion or relegation."
While the $1.55bn-valued Ferrari is the top-ranked team, a place
ahead of United, the Premier League champions are ahead of formula
one ($1.45bn), which is ninth, the $1.1bn Champions League (13th),
and Real Madrid, worth $1.073bn in 14th place.
Arsenal is the next highest English club in 21st, with a value
of $910m, six places above Liverpool ($801m). Chelsea's $634m
pushes into 55th.