The term intellectual capital collectively refers to all the intangible resources that determine the value and the competitiveness of a business beyond its physical and financial assets.
(See Thomas A. Stewart (1997) “Intellectual Capital – The New Wealth of Organizations; see also Karl Erik Sveiby (1997) “The Intangible Asset Monitor”, J. of Human Resource Casting and Accounting)
Measuring the Impact of a Game Winning Performance:-
How Manchester United Won the Game of Intellectual Capital Management as English Football Rolled into the Knowledge Economy
July 2010[1]
Contents of Case Study
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………
Market Overview and Analysis Tool……………………………………………..………
English Football rolled into the Knowledge Economy…………………………………….
Manchester United’s History, Ownership and Financials…………………………………..
Manchester United’s Challenges and Opportunities in the Knowledge Economy………….
Appendix: Tables and Pictures……………………………………………………………..
Introduction
The intellectual capital of a soccer club[2] can be broken down into two measurable components: 1) Human capital; and 2) Public Relations capital. The human capital encompasses the level of organizational competence of a club’s managers, coaches, players, and administrative personnel. The public relations capital covers the amount of accessible information that shapes a club’s image in the minds of parties external to the club such as fans, customers, suppliers, the media, and regulation authorities. Some soccer clubs do a better job of managing their intellectual capital than other clubs; however, one club has set the standard for intellect capital management in world soccer.
All of the components of Manchester United’s intellectual capital were on display during a particular Sunday afternoon in England, May 11, 2008, the final day of the English Premier League (EPL) season. Manchester United and Chelsea Football[3] Club were tied for 1st place on points going into each of their final games on this fateful day. The only thing that separated the two sides was goal differential (goals scored minus goals conceded) – – Manchester United had the upper hand here. In northwest England, Manchester United faced off against Wigan Athletic in front of a capacity crowd for its final game. Over in southeast England, Chelsea Football Club was up against Bolton Wanderers. The most straightforward way for Manchester United to lay claim to its tenth Premier League title was with a win and a Chelsea tie or loss.
The tension in the afternoon air was further heightened by the fact that both games were scheduled at the same time. Both games were simultaneously shown live on television and streamed online by EPL sponsored broadcasters nationally and internationally. The stage was set for a game winning performance that would be savored not just on this day but for many days (and possibly years) to come. Such a moment came in the 33rd minute of the Manchester United game and it was orchestrated by two of the most popular footballers of this generation, both playing for Manchester United at the time: Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo. Rooney had momentarily broken free close to the Wigan goal area when he was tackled from behind by a Wigan defender resulting in a penalty kick for Manchester United. Ronaldo stepped up to take the penalty shot with the weight of the game on his shoulders and calmly placed the ball in the back of net. The goal was Ronaldo’s 31st of the season making him the EPL’s top goal scorer, a nice accomplishment to go along with having one of the top selling jerseys during that same season. A game winning performance all-round!
Chelsea’s game with Bolton ended in a tie and Manchester United went on to defeat Wigan and thus claim its tenth Premier League title in 15 years. Highlights of the Manchester United premiership winning game, including the game winning goal, poured into the internet driving traffic to its website, manutd.com. Accordingly, the team’s merchandise commemorating another accomplished season poured out of its specialty stores. The team’s players and coaches spent a good portion of their offseason conducting interviews with national and international media including with the team’s own TV channel MUTV. Manchester United capitalized that game winning performance beyond measure, but was it actually beyond measure?
Market Overview and Analysis Tool
Soccer clubs have not commonly been evaluated as knowledge-based firms; however, a portion of their value is made up of intangible resources that are not recorded on their balance sheets. The club’s history of championship appearances, goal scoring, players’ talent, fan loyalty, media relations, and management experience shape its ability to create value but these items do not necessarily appear in financial reports on the club.[4] The interaction of these value-creating resources represent a club’s intellectual capital and when such capital is measured or accounted for, it can shed light on why the book value of the club seems out of line with the club’s market value. Moreover, an examination of a club’s intangible resources can help to explain the club’s competitive edge.
Knowledge-based firms thrive by using information technologies to produce economic benefits.[5] In a knowledge economy, information is a tool for profit maximization and national boundaries hold little sway against the pursuit of profits. In the 1990’s, some British economists described the European economy as one that was in a state of transition into a knowledge economy anchored by globalization.[6] It was in this environment that the English Premier League along with Manchester United, one of its founding member clubs, rolled English football into the knowledge economy. In an environment where information technologies can be used to secure profits, Manchester United became a global brand as it used the power of information and knowledge management to build its human and public relations capital in a way that allowed it to create more brand value that any of its competitors.
To analyze how Manchester United was able to activate such power as English football transitioned to the knowledge economy, let us first consider the characteristics of a knowledge economy. Economists believe that the knowledge economy took shape in the early 1990’s when companies started investing in the power to connect people as a response to advancements in information technologies. In such an environment, a company that was better positioned than its competitors to connect more people and share its knowledge faster and farther gained a measurable competitive advantage. By way of comparison, the knowledge economy differs from the industrial economy in many ways but there is one particular difference that is worth noting for the purposes of this case study. In an industrial economy, wealth is based on ownership of physical capital that enables a company to control scarce resources. In a knowledge economy, wealth is based on access to intellectual capital derived from intangible and limitless resources.[7] For example, the creation and sharing of knowledge expands such knowledge over time as opposed to the use of a piece of factory equipment that depreciates such equipment over time.
It may be useful to think of the three specific characteristics of a knowledge economy listed below as presenting both a challenge and an opportunity throughout the growth cycle of a knowledge-based firm:
1. The effect of location. This is diminished in some commercial activities and broader commercial relationships can be established by using appropriate technology and methods to easily access customers and services e.g. an online marketplace. On the other hand, laws, regulations, and barriers are difficult to apply once the effect of location is diminished. Knowledge and information then “leak” to high demand but low barrier areas.
2. Pricing and value depend heavily on context. The same information or knowledge can have vastly different values to different people or even to the same person at different times which gives a knowledge-based firm more flexibility in drawing value from its information or knowledge. On the other hand, knowledge-enhanced products or services can command price premiums over comparable products with low embedded knowledge or knowledge intensity. These price premiums can increase the potential for substitutes which may alienate certain customers.
3. Knowledge can be tied to people. Recruiting people with the right competencies (especially those who create and manage the information) can push a knowledge-based firm ahead of its competitors. On the other hand, information or knowledge tied to human capital (players and managers) can “walk out of the door” and thus hurt an organization’s profit potential.
English Football Rolls into the Knowledge Economy
The history of Manchester United’s rise as a global brand is in many ways tied to the founding of the Premier League in 1992; however, the club had an enviable intellectual capital management foundation in place before 1992 (more on this later, “Team History”). Prior to the founding of the Premier League in 1992, English football was in a state of decline in the late 1980’s. This decline was marked by: dilapidated stadium facilities; the spread of hooliganism;[8] a five-year ban of English soccer clubs from European competitions in light of the riots at Heysel Stadium in 1985;[9] and the Hillsborough Stadium Disaster in 1989 where 96 fans were killed during a stampede.[10]
The decline of English football during this period was in many ways a result of the mismanagement of the human and public relations capital among several teams within the Football League First Division. The Football League First Division, which had been the top league of English football since 1888, had progressively pulled in less revenue than other European leagues such as Italy’s Serie A and Spain’s La Liga.[11] Also, during this period several top English players began moving abroad to play which quickened the pace of the decline of English football.[12] After the Hillsborough Stadium Disaster, a regulating commission made recommendations to the Football League First Division on how stadiums needed to be restructured.[13]
The First Division became preoccupied with the huge cost of implementing these recommendations and the growing concern over its inability to attract quality players. In effect, there was mounting discontent among the top clubs including Manchester United about the First Division’s management of revenue. As early as 1988, ten top flight clubs had threatened to break away in order to take advantage of higher television revenue.[14] The English football environment as a whole needed some kind of change.
In 1990, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), the regulating body of European football lifted the five-year ban on English soccer clubs. And by 1992, the Premier League was founded with 22 inaugural members including Manchester United. The Premier League set up new rules of competition and revenue sharing that redefined the market. In this new market, information and knowledge management would be a key tool in profit maximization. The Premier League was primarily developed to take advantage of the revenue generated from television deals.[15] It was set up in conjunction with a satellite TV channel BSkyB. The Premier League and its 22 founding members severed their economic ties with the smaller clubs in the First Division and sought to maximize their profit under the following rules of the road: First, games were delivered to fans, not attending matches, through live and exclusive TV coverage on subscription-only channels. Second, teams were exposed to Premier League-sponsored platforms for marketing and merchandising online and offline. Third, the Premier League managed ticket prices and access to them in such a way that allowed it to exclude unwanted customers and troublesome characters such as hooligans[16]. Fourth, the League designed its new stadiums in a way that permitted easier security and police access to control spectator behavior.[17] These guidelines positively impacted revenue because they afforded the Premiership teams a more effective mechanism than they had with the First Division to manage their club image and ultimately their intellectual capital.
Most notably, these guidelines signaled a transition for English football into a knowledge-based system for profit generation. In such a system, the economics are not directed at scarcity, but rather at abundance. Unlike most resources that become depleted when used, information and knowledge can be shared, and actually grow through utilization. In effect, information and knowledge management became a tool for EPL teams to increase their market value.[18]
Manchester United’s History, Ownership and Financials
Team’s History
No team in the English Premier League was better positioned to take advantage of English football transitioning into the knowledge economy than Manchester United. To understand why this was the case, an initial discussion on the club’s history may be insightful. The Munich air disaster of 1958 signaled the moment Manchester United began its journey into the hearts of the largest conglomerate of football fans.[19] This moment, though tragic, served as a new beginning. The team was on their way back from a European Cup game in Belgrade when their plane crashed as a result of inclement weather in Germany. Eight members of the team died in the crash and others were injured including team manager Matt Busby. Out of this tragedy, Busby regrouped the team in the 1960’s and adjusted their playing style to be more daring. The team won the Football First League Division title twice between 1964 and 1967 and became the first English club to win the European Cup in 1968.
In 1966, two leading Manchester United players, Bobby Charlton and Nobby Stiles, became national heroes for their efforts in helping England win the World Cup. During this same decade, another leading player, George Best, developed a unique reputation for his extravagant lifestyle and was sometimes referred to as the “fifth Beatle” – invoking the global pop icon status of the band, The Beatles. For example, Best’s on-the-field performance translated into commercial opportunities in retailing, modeling, and fashion. These opportunities paved the way for how today’s soccer stars are able to capitalize on their team’s stature in securing commercial ventures off-the-field (more on this later, see “Challenges and Opportunities – Knowledge can be tied to people”).
As a result of Manchester United’s daring play in the 1960’s, championed by Busby and his collection of colorful player personalities, the team became a symbol of the free spirit philosophy brought about by the pop culture and social changes of the 1960’s in Western Europe and the United States. In effect, the team was able to establish a strong bond with its supporters—a bond that has since stood the test of time. Today, there is a statue of Busby erected right outside the team’s current stadium called Old Trafford. Supporters and their families come from all over the world to have their picture taken while standing next to the statue of Busby. In many families, it’s a tradition to line up a family album with pictures taken next to Busby’s statue across three generations e.g. “Grandpa, Dad, and me with Busby”.
The history of Manchester United demonstrates that the value of the club’s brand is not only generated from a sports entertainment connection, it is also generated from a more complex and romantic source in how supporters identify themselves with the club. Other English clubs simply do not enjoy a history this rich in such public relations capital. Manchester United’s public relations capital placed it at a significant advantage over other English clubs the years just before English football transitioned into the knowledge economy with the founding of the EPL.
After Busby’s retirement in 1969, the club’s game winning performances slowed down measurably. In the 1973/74 season, the club was relegated to a lower division due to a high number of losses. In light of this, ticket sales were impacted but not too much as the club generally had over 50,000 supporters in attendance throughout the 1970’s and 80’s. In 1986, the club named Alex Ferguson its new manager. Although Ferguson struggled with management issues in his first few years, nevertheless, he built up enough goodwill with the team’s supporters. The supporters were rewarded for their patience when in 1992 the team returned to its winning ways in claiming its first league title since the 1966/67 season.[20] The team’s performance was driven by Ferguson’s decision to recruit Eric Cantona whose style of play and colorful personality drew immediate comparisons to George Best. More importantly, Ferguson managed the team’s move from the Football League Division to the new English Premier League (EPL).
Team’s Ownership and Financials
In 1991, immediately before the inception of the EPL in 1992, the owners of the club floated it on the London Stock Exchange in order to raise new capital for brand development reasons. Fans of the club were able to buy shares of Manchester United Plc and several thousand supporters took full advantage of that. But the main goal was to set the groundwork to enrich the current owners, most notably Martin Edwards who was also the chairman at the time. Manchester United had a streak of daring performances dating back to Busby’s boys, and becoming listed on the London Stock Exchange was one of its many daring and winning performances in the 1990’s. In 2005, the Glazer family, owners of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (American football) bought Manchester United Plc and de-listed the club from the stock exchange. At that time the club was valued at £800 million (then approx. $1.5 billion).[21] The Glazer family was attracted to the club’s winning brand and this attraction was primarily based on the club’s financial performance in the 1990’s.
Prior to the inception of the EPL, the main source of revenue for all English football clubs including Manchester United was matchday income. Today, Manchester United derives its income from three main sources: matchday (attendances and related expenditures); broadcasting (mainly from BSkyB’s deal with the Premier League); and commercial (mainly endorsements, sponsorships, merchandising etc.) Once the Premier League was established in the 1992-93 season, Manchester United markedly increased its income from broadcasting and commercial activities. The club’s relationship with its fans put it in a good position to boost its performance in these two categories while still growing its matchday income.
Manchester United has consistently performed well financially, especially in terms of pre-tax profit. It is one of only a handful of clubs that realized a cumulative pre-tax profit in the early 2000’s. Beyond just generating income in England, Manchester United gets considerable TV income from participating in the European Champions League. Even in the 2005/2006 season when Manchester United did not string together enough game winning performances to advance beyond the first stage of the European Champions League tournament, the club still derived £9.6 million ($14.5 million) from participating in the continent-wide tournament.[22]
The club’s profit is also driven by its superior stadium facility where sold-out games are the norm. The club regularly renovates this facility in order to maintain its prestige. In the 2006/2007 season, after the latest ground expansion was completed, the stadium capacity moved up to 76,000, well ahead of its nearest rival Arsenal who had a capacity of 60,000 for its new Emirates stadium in North London. Manchester United’s stadium facility allows it to secure a much higher matchday income than any other club in the EPL. It should also be noted here that the club’s ability to fill its stadium game after game is a reflection of the historical strength of its brand going back to Busby’s team of the 1960s. This is evidenced by the fact that the club regularly draws spectators from across the United Kingdom (and sometimes from abroad) to watch its home games.
The large attendance at its games directly drives up its revenue from commercial activities. In the 2005/2006 season alone, the club brought in £51 million ($76 million) from commercial activities beyond the sale of tickets. Corporate sponsorships are part the club’s strategic focus. In 2002, the club inked a 13-year partnership deal with Nike valued at £303 million ($455 million). As part of the deal, Nike agreed to manage the club’s merchandising operation around the world. Part of the club’s corporate philosophy is to “treat its fans as customers” and this philosophy was the catalyst for the megadeal with Nike.
Finally, a point worth noting about the club’s financials is that it’s like a virtuous circle. In essence, the club’s ability to secure huge pre-tax profits is part of what keeps its winning performances going. On average, the club pulls in the highest revenues, and pays the highest wages in the EPL which allows it to attract more talented players that can keep delivering game winning performances. More often than not, the club is able to outbid other clubs for players and managers and this enables it to maintain its competitive edge in terms of human capital.
Manchester United’s Challenges and Opportunities in the Knowledge Economy
The competency of a soccer club’s human capital is measured by game winning performances. For Manchester United, the game winning performances that began in the 1960’s laid the groundwork for its intellectual capital management strategy. A game winning performance creates the best platform for a club to showcase the interaction of all of the different components of its intellectual capital. Simply put, a game winning performance is at the core of the knowledge and information that a soccer team creates and shares. From 1992 to 2008, Manchester United has been the most successful club on the playing field, securing at least a top three position in each of the last 15 seasons.[23] On-the-field success directly leads to higher income because the club takes in a greater share of the TV revenue which is awarded in part on the basis of league placement; league placement is determined by number of wins. Top clubs like Manchester United get a larger TV appearance cut of the revenue because their games are broadcast more regularly in light of the BSkyB TV deal with the EPL. Since that deal, Manchester United has been the highest grossing club when compared to other Premier League teams.[24]
In addition to a larger share of the broadcasting revenue, game winning performances allowed Manchester United to command more money and creative control from corporate sponsors, nationally and internationally. A recent example was how seamlessly the club made the switch from AIG to Aon Corporation as the primary corporate sponsor of its jerseys in light of the role AIG played in the financial crisis of 2007-2009.
Game winning performances beget more game winning performances as the club is adroit at “replenishing” its intellectual capital.[25] For example, quality players greatly desire to play for teams that have a winning mentality and tradition. Manchester United’s ability to recruit the most talented soccer players in the world is matched by few other clubs. In 2003, when Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the best and most flamboyant soccer players in the world, became available on the free agent market, Manchester United was up against several other top soccer clubs in retaining Ronaldo’s services. Ronaldo did not respond to any other offers until he received the offer from Manchester United; once he did, an immediate transfer to Manchester United was completed.[26]
Manchester United’s management of its intellectual capital through game winning performances only tells half the story of its profit maximization strategy. For game winning performances to take place regularly, the human and public relations capital have to interact in a complementary fashion. In essence, a game winning performance is the natural effect of a well managed human and public relations capital. Manchester United, for the most part, has dealt successfully with the challenges and opportunities presented by the characteristics of the knowledge economy.
The effect of location
First, as information technologies moderated the effect of location on a variety of commercial activities, Manchester United deepened its access to its fans.[27] Part of the club’s strategic focus is to treat fans as customers.[28] In the 1990’s, the club implemented a multi-phase plan centered on online mechanisms to extract value from the knowledge and information it creates through game winning performances. The first phase of the plan was to present its official website as a virtual marketplace for customers to purchase team merchandise and the like. This marketplace would then be supplemented by news on game times, season tickets, and visitor specials. As a result, fans visiting Manchester, England from out of town or out of the country for that matter were empowered with this online information about the team and could plan their visits around the team’s activities. Today, in addition to its official website, Manchester United still maintains a high level of online access to its fans through social media.[29]
Greater access to fans globally has led to some intellectual property issues for Manchester United. Laws, regulations, and barriers are difficult to apply across national boundaries because knowledge and information tend to “leak” to high demand but low barrier areas. Manchester United’s trademarks include MU and the MU football club (MUFC) badges. These badges were first registered in the UK in 1970 and 1988 respectively. Since then the only other notable change was that one style of the MUFC badge is now known as the MU crest, which was registered in 1997.
As a response to the increased demand for MU branded products in Asia, the club entered the Chinese market through licensing deals with Chinese companies that manufacture a wide range of products. These products include clothing for men, women, children, and even babies. These branded products expand beyond clothing to include luggage, golf, accessories, kitchen products, bedroom, and bathroom products. By licensing their trademark, Manchester United avoided the need for capital investment, and the high degree of management commitment required to run an international manufacturing company. It also allowed the club to focus on its core business of recruiting talented players and winning soccer games.
However, these licensing deals have presented some challenges. First, Manchester United has encountered some inconsistencies with the registration of its marks in China. Of the eight applications for registration of the MUFC badge in different product ranges, three of the eight applications were approved with only “Manchester” at the right corner of the badge. The “United” was erased from the mark on the grounds that there were also other football clubs with “United” in their name. In another case, the words “MUFC” was left off entirely from the badge on the grounds that the acronym “MUFC” should not be limited to the sole use of Manchester United because Manchester is a city and thus a city should not be used as part of a club’s name. These inconsistencies were baffling as a number of these applications were submitted at the same time.
Second, the club has had to deal with the problem of counterfeiting. Counterfeiting is a major problem, especially in developing countries.[30] In China, at least six factories have at some point been involved in manufacturing counterfeit Manchester United products. Most of these fake products are sold in mainland China; this is due to the massive popularity of Manchester United in China coupled with the high cost of the official products vis-à-vis the high poverty rate in mainland China. According to Manchester United’s Trademark Manager, counterfeiting causes the club to lose an estimated £3 million ($4.5 million) a year form China, Thailand, and other developing countries in Asia.
Some of the reasons why the club’s products are counterfeited at such a large scale fit right into the location characteristic of the knowledge economy. There is an incentive for counterfeiters to satisfy consumer demand or the consumer surplus created from the higher priced products; the distance between the club’s location in England and the location of these counterfeiters in Asia reduces the club’s ability to effectively manage and control consumer demand and surplus. In addition, there is inadequate government enforcement in these developing countries; loose licensing contracts that don’t thoroughly address punishment for infringement; and the inadequacy of penalties for counterfeiters once they are caught.
Pricing and value depend heavily on context
Manchester United’s online presence and global reach have enabled it to take advantage of the “context” characteristic of the knowledge economy.[31] This characteristic simply means that the same information or knowledge can have different values to different customers or even to the same customer at different times. The team takes advantage of this through the online broadcasting of its games and through creative price discrimination for its season ticket packages. For example, the EPL’s deal with BSkyB allows the broadcasting company to stream Manchester United’s games online which are then accessible by a customer who may not have the means or time to watch the game live at Old Trafford.
Although price discrimination can be an effective way for a firm to meet the desires of its customer base whose individual demands for its product may be at different levels, it is not foolproof. Pricing issues can sometimes alienate certain customers within that base. Knowledge-enhanced products like the sports entertainment from Manchester United can command price premiums far above comparable products that have a different knowledge-content like entertainment from a lower ranked EPL team. Price premiums can increase the attractiveness of substitutes for customers alienated by high ticket prices. So a Manchester United fan might be tempted to turn his loyalty to a lower ranked team to deal with his frustration with Manchester United’s high ticket prices. More importantly, price premiums can increase the likelihood of ticket scams which can compromise the club’s image.[32] So far, Manchester United has managed the context characteristic as it relates to ticket prices with some moderate success; the club has a reputation for closely monitoring when and how it releases its tickets to ticket distributors.
Knowledge can be tied to people
Recruiting people with the right competencies has been a religion at Manchester United dating back to Matt Busby and his boys of the 1960’s. Today, current manager Alex Ferguson enjoys one of the longest running tenures as an EPL team manager going into his 25th season. The team’s steady level of organizational competence has been one of the many things that allowed it to separate itself from its competitors. Nevertheless, dealing with this particular characteristic of the knowledge economy has been the most challenging for Manchester United.
Soccer clubs are the type of knowledge-based firms that rely on individuals to create and manage the knowledge that the firm derives value from e.g. game winning performances. This type of value generating mechanism is different from knowledge-based firms where the valuable knowledge is tied into processes that can’t “walk out of the door”. For example, some biotech companies tie their valuable drug product to a patent classification, FDA approval system, trade secret scheme, or a combination of all three processes that can’t technically (nay, legally) walk out of the door in the form of one individual or group of individuals. As such, Manchester United has gone through periods of time where the loss of a player or manager has compromised its ability to create game winning performances and further drive up its value. The period after Busby’s retirement and before Ferguson’s hiring serves as an illustration (see discussion above on “Team History”).[33]
Another challenge soccer clubs face in having their valuable knowledge product tied to specific individuals comes in the manner of players’ activities off the field. In this arena, clubs have little control over players outside of performance clauses in their player contracts. In fact, certain players tend to have the leverage over clubs when it comes to off-the-field commercial activities as evidenced by David Beckham’s commission split with Manchester United for items the club sold bearing his name or image.[34]
Despite these challenges, Manchester United has managed to build a reputation as the world soccer team that top players want to play for; and it safe to say the club has many more game winning performances in its future especially considering that it recently topped Forbes list of the most valuable sports franchise in 2010.[35]
[1] This case study was prepared by Chijioke Akamigbo and Chuki Obiyo as part of an assignment for the Northwestern University School of Law class: Intellectual Capital Management. The case study was prepared with the advice and guidance of Professor Clinton Francis. This manuscript is not intended to illustrate either the effective or ineffective handling of a management situation, nor is it intended to express an expert legal opinion regarding the matters discussed.
[2] The term “club” and “team” will be used interchangeably.
[3] The term “football” and “soccer” will be used interchangeably.
[4] Andreas Andrikopoulos, Introducing Intellectual Capital Analysis to Soccer Club Management: An Integrated Map of Intangible Sources of Value 3-4 (2006).
[5] Peter Drucker, The Age of Discontinuity; Guidelines to Our Changing Society 18-19 (Harper and Row, New York) (1969).
[6] Joel Mokyr, The Gifts of Athena: Historical Origins of the Knowledge Economy 163-164 (Princeton University Press) (2004).
[7] Philippe Leliaert, Red Herrings of IC (2003) https://www.eclo.org/pages/uploads/File/KM%20Proceedings/Philippe%20Leliaert%20Slides.pdf
[8] Fights between supporters of rival teams that can take place right before or after football or that can erupt spontaneously at the stadium or in the surrounding streets.
[9] “1985: English teams banned after Heysel”. BBC Archive. 31 May 1985.
[10] https://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article6083159.ece
[11] https://www.premierleague.com/page/History/0,,12306,00.html
[12] Consider Chris Waddle, arguably the best winger in the world at the time, who moved to France to play his soccer. He was sold to French club Marseille for £4.5 million in 1989.
[13] https://www.premierleague.com/page/History/0,,12306,00.html
[14] https://www.premierleague.com/page/History/0,,12306,00.html
[15] John Williams, Protect Me From What I Want: Football Fandom, Celebrity Culture and New Football in England 101-102 (2006).
[16] For example, by 2004, up to £40 for a standard match ticket at some grounds was becoming more common in the Premier League. This is more than four times the minimum price at some German and Italian grounds.
[17] For example, unruly fans were routinely tossed out of the stadium.
[18] ^ Peter Drucker, The Age of Discontinuity; Guidelines to Our Changing Society 19-20 (Harper and Row, New York) (1969).
[19] Manchester United is estimated to have upwards of 333 million followers across the world, with a core contingent of 139 million supporters.
[20] Sean Hamil, Manchester United: The Commercial Development of a Global Football Brand 6-7 (2008).
[21] https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4550141.stm
[22] Sean Hamil, Manchester United: The Commercial Development of a Global Football Brand 7-8 (2008).
[23] Sean Hamil, Manchester United: The Commercial Development of a Global Football Brand 7-8 (2008).
[24] Id.
[25] https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1991/06/03/75096/index.htm (advancing the concept of intellectual capital replenishment among knowledge-based firms like pharmaceutical companies)
[26] https://www.skysports.com/football/player/0,,11667_249143,00.html
[27] Manutd.com; MUTV online; and numerous fan appreciation websites like rednews.co.uk which won the 2009 Best Online Fanzine award.
[28] Manchester United Plc, 2004 Annual Report
[29] The team boasts 1,510,207 fans on Facebook as of August 11, 2010.
[30] Daniel C. K. Chow, Counterfeiting and China’s Economic Development 1-3 (2006) https://www.uscc.gov/hearings/2006hearings/written_testimonies/06_06_08wrts/06_06_7_8_chow_daniel.pdf
[31] Debra M. Amidon, Origins of the Knowledge-Based Firm (1991) https://www.entovation.com/gkp/origins.htm
[32] Roy Sencio, Is it safe to buy Manchester United Football Tickets Online? https://ezinearticles.com/?Is-it-Safe-to-Buy-Manchester-United-Football-Tickets-Online?&id=3420604 (tips on how customers can avoid ticket scams).
[33] Consider also how the loss of Cristiano Ronaldo for the 2009/2010 was a key factor in Manchester United’s inability to defend its league title and gave way to Chelsea FC as league title holders for that season.
[34] Ellen Hale, USA Today, The most famous athlete in the world (2003) https://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/world/2003-05-08-beckham_x.htm
[35] https://www.forbes.com/2010/01/12/manchester-united-yankees-cowboys-business-sports-valuable-teams.html?boxes=Homepagetopspecialreports (valuing the club at $1.87 billion)
