Red Rebels

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There is a floor at the Red Rebel Stadium dedicated to the Ministry of Commerce. This floor is hailed by the media as the commercial heart of the Red Rebels. With the rise of the Red Rebels in recent years, the influence of the Red Rebels has spread. , this floor has also received widespread attention.

The UK President of Morgan Stanley Bank once commented on these Commerce Department employees of the Red Rebels. He said that any one of them has the ability to hold important positions in major banks, but in the end they were ranked among ordinary people in this club. Employees, he was even willing to poach them with high salaries to find new jobs, but he was rejected one by one.

"People say that Real Madrid's Commercial Department is excellent and has created the great achievements of Galacticos, but I must admit that the Commercial Department of the Red Rebels is even better than Real Madrid. We have learned many things from them!" Real Madrid Sanchez, the director of the Ministry of Commerce, mentioned the Red Rebel Commerce Department and was also full of praise.

However, the imbalance between Real Madrid's business and competition did not appear in the Red Rebels. Many people were exploring the details and root causes. In the end, a professor from the University of Manchester found it.

"They limited the authority of the Department of Commerce to Red Rebel Stadium!"

It sounds simple, but how difficult it is to do this!

Even now that the Red Rebels have become famous, the Ministry of Commerce still cannot shake or even resist the decision from the Newton Heath training base, because they all know that this is their first commandment.

To explain with the simplest example, the Red Rebels’ Ministry of Commerce decided to expand the flagship store on the ground floor of the stadium, planning to use 1,500 square meters. At that time, many people appreciated the Red Rebels’ move. Facts have proved that this flagship store has brought great benefits to the Red Rebels. The rebels brought in a lot of merchandise revenue.

But what is not known is that the report provided by the Ministry of Commerce at the time mentioned that if a flagship store was built outside the Newton Heath training base, which would be located near the park and surrounded by the Newton Heath community, fans would They are also keen to go there to watch the team train, and it is fully equipped to develop into another successful flagship store of the Red Rebels.

However, after Xiao Yu discussed with Mourinho and other directors of the athletics department, they finally gave up this tempting idea. The reason was simple. They did not want the Newton Heath training base to be tainted with a commercial atmosphere, and the Ministry of Commerce also Leave it at that.

It can be said that the first instruction and training that every employee who enters the Ministry of Commerce of the Red Rebels receives is the unspoken rule that many people in the Ministry of Commerce laugh at as the first commandment, that is, the authority of the Ministry of Commerce is limited to Red Rebel Stadium.

Although the authority of the Ministry of Commerce has been limited, no one can ignore the role of the Ministry of Commerce on the Red Rebels.

The Red Rebels’ income comes from three major sources: game income, media income and commercial income. Game income includes ticket sales, game day sales, etc.

Media income comes from broadcast fees. In addition to the unstable Champions League income, the Premier League's broadcast fee share will not increase much as long as the club's performance is stable. It depends on how much the Premier League's broadcast fees will increase after 2007.

Commercial income includes sponsors, sports kit sharing between the Red Rebels and Adidas, and Apple, including restaurants, bars, etc. run by the Red Rebels. Among the three major revenue sectors, this sector accounts for the lowest proportion. of.

“In the past 2004/05 season, since we just won the European Champions Cup and finished second in the league, our media revenue increased significantly, including very small shares from the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup. Total revenue reached £112 million, accounting for 41% of our full-year operating revenue."

At the high-level meeting of the Department of Commerce at the Red Rebel Stadium, Gardner announced the income of last season to Xiao Yu who participated in the meeting, and he hoped to use this as the basis for his plan.

In the 2004/05 season, the Red Rebels' annual operating income reached 275 million pounds, surpassing Manchester United and Real Madrid in one fell swoop, becoming the football club with the highest operating income in today's football. This is a success for a company that has worked hard for many years and reached its peak in competition. For the team, it is definitely the biggest and best return.

“Our game day revenue reached 108 million pounds, accounting for 39% of the total revenue. However, as our new stadium is added and renovated, and seats in the new stadium are gradually opened, in the next two years, this revenue will increase by 30%. %, this is an estimate if the ticket price remains at the current price."

For the Red Rebels, Gardner can be said to have devoted all his efforts. He and Mark David are the two leaders of the Ministry of Commerce. It can be said that the skeleton of the Red Rebels’ Ministry of Commerce was cast in their hands and is now running well. , they are indispensable.

"As we all know, for a football club, match day income is a relatively stable source of income. We have always focused on operating income on match days. Our attendance has always been maintained at a very high level. As the stadium speeds up, With the expansion of the storey, this revenue will continue to increase, which is definitely a good phenomenon for our club.”

"Media revenue fluctuates greatly due to performance. At present, we have a relatively stable share of Premier League broadcast fees. In addition, our commercial income on the Internet has also reached 2.5 million pounds. According to current expectations, the Premier League broadcast rights are likely to be sold again. The club has paid a sky-high price, so in terms of media revenue, the club’s expectations are relatively stable.”

Media income is clearly affected by the rankings of the Premier League and Champions League. For example, for the Premier League, the current broadcast rights contract with Sky TV expires in the 2007 season. With the intervention of the European Union, the new broadcast rights contract must be revised. Sky Television stations will no longer have the monopoly they once had.

However, the rapid development of the Premier League in the past two years, especially with the entry of capital giants such as Abu Dhabi and the Abu Dhabi Consortium, coupled with the improvement of the overall level of the Premier League, the entire league has become more and more competitive and influential. As the Premier League becomes stronger, many people even predict that starting from 2007, the Premier League's domestic broadcast fee revenue will exceed 2 billion pounds in the next three years.

Note, this is only in the UK!

So, what about overseas?

This depends on the promotion of the Premier League's overseas preseason games in the new season and the operation of the Premier League. However, currently the TV stations controlled by the Abu Dhabi consortium have proposed cooperation intentions to the Premier League. They only have copyrights in Arab regions such as the Middle East and North Africa. Willing to pay £200 million.

If this deal is completed, the overseas copyright of the Premier League may exceed 1 billion pounds. This was absolutely unimaginable before. If it becomes a reality, then the broadcast fee income of 3 billion pounds will provide Premier League football The team has brought huge impact and is bound to attract the attention of more investors.

As for the rising tide, the Red Rebels, who have become the signature team of the Premier League, will only earn a lot more every year as long as they continue to maintain their current ranking in the league and firmly enter the top four.

However, as the Red Rebels gradually become famous, and as the players' strength and popularity increase, the team can no longer just look at the country, but should pay more attention to the Champions League, where there is also a lot of revenue.

This is why both Manchester United and Manchester City are trying to break into the top 4 of the league, because for the Glazer family, Manchester United is only in the group stage this season. If they cannot get a Champions League ticket in the new season, then they will Their operations will be completely in trouble. When the time comes, bankruptcy may be what awaits them.

Of course, with the new regulations of the Premier League, once the Glazer family goes bankrupt, Manchester United will be forced to change hands. The club's own operating capabilities will ensure that Manchester United will not lack potential buyers.

"It can be said that competition income and media income have less room for operation, so the focus of our Ministry of Commerce has always been on commercial income. In the sponsorship contract we signed with Adidas, each year only The share of jersey sales alone can reach 30 million pounds, and it is expected to increase steadily in the future."

"But we feel that the current 20% proportion of commercial revenue is too low. Our goal is to increase commercial revenue to a weight that can keep pace with competition revenue and media revenue. Only then will our club's operations be considered healthy and stable."

The two major incomes with a larger proportion are both affected by performance, which makes the Ministry of Commerce of the Red Rebels very worried about this. Xiao Yu has previously strongly supported industrial investments such as restaurants, bars and coffee houses, just to increase business income and let The troika can keep pace with each other, so that even if the club's performance falls into a trough, it can quickly turn around the situation.

For any enterprise, there are only two ways to improve the health of its operations: increase revenue and reduce expenditure!

The football club has a certain special character, because the club's biggest operating cost is the player's salary, and the Red Rebels have always had a complete, highly commercialized, and objective player selection and salary system, and the player's performance It is directly proportional to the salary, so reducing expenditure is a drop in the bucket and has negligible effect on the Red Rebels.

In this case, there is only open source!

The core business of the club is football, so the series of guidance Xiao Yu previously gave to the Ministry of Commerce is to develop business around football and strive to build the Red Rebel brand into a platform with football as the core and diversified operations. This led to the rapid rise of the Red Rebel Army.

But this is not enough.

"In addition to strengthening cooperation with existing sponsors such as Vodafone, Adidas, and Audi, we will continue to expand our sponsor scope." Gardner showed his latest presentation on the large LCD screen in the conference room. network of sponsors.

"After our consultation and cooperation, we will grade the existing sponsors, Vodafone and Adidas will become our main sponsors, and the cooperation of our remaining sponsors must be in line with the interests of the main sponsors. "

In other words, if one day in the future, Toyota becomes the chest advertising sponsor of the Red Rebels, then the Red Rebels will be forced to terminate the cooperation with Audi, because this is the club’s obligation to safeguard the rights and interests of the main sponsor. .

Of course, this is just an assumption. The Red Rebels’ business practices have always been recognized by sponsors, because they all pay great attention to win-win situations and do not only consider interests. This makes the Red Rebels’ business image very good.

“Under the main sponsor, we will develop 15 official sponsors, including our car sponsor Audi, financial services sponsor Citibank, and travel services sponsor Manchester Tourism Group, all of which we We are old customers and have a good cooperative relationship with each other, and we will further strengthen cooperation in the future.”

Audi and Citibank are also leasers of land near the Red Rebels Stadium and have close ties with the Red Rebels. Manchester Tourism Group was the travel agency that sponsored the Red Rebels team bus when it was first established. In the past few years, the performance of the Red Rebels has been rising, and they have also developed rapidly. Now they are the leading tourism group in the UK. They have been sponsoring the Red Rebels and are their old partners.

"After our operation, the credit card giant Mastercard is interested in cooperating with us. We will jointly launch the Red Rebels credit card with Mastercard. The difference from other credit cards is not only that the credit card has the Red Rebels team emblem, but also Not just because Mastercard paid us a £1.5 million sponsorship fee, but also from the special services.”

"The interest rate of this credit card is determined based on the performance of our club. That is to say, when our team performs well that year, the interest rate will be reduced. If the performance is poor, the interest rate will increase. Once we win the Champions League and the league championship When major trophies are won, cardholders can also receive a certain amount of dividends, and they are closely related to the club!"

"We have conducted a special survey and the fans responded very well to it. We already have more than 50 million fans around the world, and our club also has 180,000 regular members. This is our biggest capital!"

As early as the establishment of the club's fan department, Xiao Yu decided to manage the fans of the Red Rebels and established a huge database to collect fan data from the Internet, ticket and merchandise sales processes. Currently, this database has More than 8 million people.

Among them, the UK accounts for 75%. Another 55% have male surnames and 45% have female surnames. There are 1 million active consumers and 3 million potential consumers. In addition, there is also data on their interests, hobbies and other aspects. The club Various targeted services can also be launched from this data to meet the needs of fans.

Xiao Yu once thought about the situation of the Red Rebels. He felt that it was a bit similar to the Chinese chat tool Penguin. It has a huge user base, which allows the Internet company to launch a variety of services anytime and anywhere, easily gaining ground against the competition. Opponent's advantage.

This is the case with the Red Rebels. The club is a Premier League giant, has a good image, has a huge fan base, and the fans are very loyal to the club. These are the reasons why sponsors value the Red Rebels.

There was once a survey by an authoritative organization. Among all the giants in Europe, the club with the highest fan loyalty is undoubtedly the Red Rebels. Although every giant has their own die-hard fans, the fans of the Red Rebels are generally more loyal. High, this is also considered to be a major influence in the club’s promotion of the concept of gratitude!

And for such a club, no sponsor can turn a blind eye!

(To be continued)