A few years ago, I was sitting at my desk late at night, frustrated by the latest sports financing project which I was working on at a large investment bank. Despite the iconic brand, large international fanbase and its many trophies, it was extremely difficult to find investors for this top-20 global football club.
Time and again, potential investors struggled with the club’s volatile cashflow profile and uncertainty about its future revenues and performance. I asked myself: ‘If it’s this hard for this glamorous club to raise money, how are less fortunate teams coping?’
However, contrary to normal businesses, sports clubs have one major intangible asset which the institutional market does not value properly: they are global brands with large international, online fanbases. Millions of engaged supporters, all over the world, one click away, follow the club’s every move and every new piece of content. The 30 most followed clubs have more than 720 million followers on Facebook alone, and more than 1 billion followers across all social channels.
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