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Man U Spends 36 Hours in Hangzhou, Makes 1.5 Million USD

Jul 31, 2009 eChinacities.com

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Hangzhou Greentown lost to Manchester United 2-8 last night at the Huanglong Stadium, but you couldn't find a shred of disappointment on the faces of local soccer fans there. Michael Owens’ two goals and Ryan Giggs' hat-trick both were greeted with resounding cheers from the local fans in the stadium last night; there was even a banner in the stands, mimicking the recent Jia Junpeng phenomenon on the web, bearing the slogan: “Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester U Wants You Home for Lunch.”

It was in this air of overwhelming hospitality that Manchester United enjoyed their biggest victory yet on their Asia tour – the biggest win for them on more than one level: they made a clean 1.5 million USD in appearance fees alone, not including those profits not entered into the ledger.

In Hangzhou only 36 hours, and already 1.5 million USD richer; below is the balance sheet for Manchester United's Gold Digging Tour.

The Balance Sheet

	Earnings	Expenses
Manchester United	1.5 million USD
Hangzhou Organizing Committee	(30,000 ticket sales x 900 RMB) + food, drinks, and memorabilia sales (soccer jerseys 800 RMB each)	1.5 million USD + 300,000 RMB + other fees for entertainment/accommodation at the Hyatt Regency

The 1.5 Million Profit Is Only Those Earnings Entered Into the Ledger
As soon as they landed in Hangzhou, United stars started scrambling, making commercial appearances for one sponsor after another, capitalizing their tour to its fullest potential. According to the staff with United sponsors for the tour the sponsors hadn't needed to pay for the appearance of these Manchester United stars at these commercial events, be it Aigo's product promotion event or Nike's meet and greet with soccer fans, because this Asia tour is Manchester United's way of paying its sponsors back.

However, the Man U “free service” comes with a huge credit added to their ledgers. Manchester United’s Asian sponsors alone have signed contracts worth 80 million British pounds, exactly what Man U star Ronaldo is rumored to be worth now.

It's no wonder that Manchester United CEO David Gill has pronounced: “Asia remains one of our most loyal markets ever.”

Read the original in Chinese here

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