What is the business model behind City Football Group?

[decmancity]

You make some great points .But how fickle are some of the fans? I f we go a couple of seasons without playing well and winning trophies will some of the ones who have know only sucsess start to stay away ..While we get near enough full houses for League game it is not the case for cup games ,Now would be an ideal time to build a huge younger local fan base .It wont be easy though with all the distractions of modern life and not being to just turn up and sit with your mates .Some lads might think paying £40-£50 to sit on there own for a night game in November isn't a great idea after all

I agree, definitely needs to be more done to try and appeal to the younger local generation to get them into games. The Cityzen program and all our work in the community is a good start but we can always do more of course. The problem is trying to do it and do it in such a way it can't be abused.

 

[KS55]

We have just concluded a deal with Puma for £650m. Worldwide. We get most of that. Just the beginning. It will be ....er......Massive.

 

[The_Caddy]

We will be hoping that football can become big in America, Australia & China. We can then follow the PL model & grow income streams like sponsorship & TV Rights.

There are major problems though. In America & Australia Soccer is only ever going to be a marginal game.
We also need other clubs to adopt our model. This makes these leagues more competitive & interesting which results in greater exposure. The other PL clubs have owners who are loathe to invest in their own clubs let alone sister clubs. PSG are the only club who can match our investment levels. There only focus though seems to be winning the CL.

China is very much in it's infancy but it's likely to be a bigger market than America & Australia combined. The problems we have here are the same as above. We are leading but need followers.

 

[Gorton_Tubster]

The business model is to be a plaything, the goal is to ditch it all once they get bored.

Out of interest are there any other setups like City? Who are we competing with?

 

[blueparrot]

You make some great points .But how fickle are some of the fans? I f we go a couple of seasons without playing well and winning trophies will some of the ones who have know only sucsess start to stay away ..While we get near enough full houses for League game it is not the case for cup games ,Now would be an ideal time to build a huge younger local fan base .It wont be easy though with all the distractions of modern life and not being to just turn up and sit with your mates .Some lads might think paying £40-£50 to sit on there own for a night game in November isn't a great idea after all

While I agree with what you say, until we have increased capacity then pushing to attract new younger fans isn't really viable as you say they have lot's of other distractions they aren't going to hang around until we have room. Though it's not really a debate for the business model of the CFG debate.

 

[Clubber]

Simples. We've taken down the English rags, now to knock all the rags internationally off their perches.

This is partly right I'd guess, as it will give us a "local club" fan base, rather than the, "A club in a far off land you'll never see". Yet it will also aids in giving us (City) the connection to these other clubs, as the pinnacle of the system, and something to "look up too".

None of us would have heard of half of these clubs without this structure, yet we have all at one point probably taken a look at the individual clubs, and will keep an eye out for them, and i think that's the big part.

I would also think, along with advertising, it will help us circumvent certain restrictions, such as work permits etc. allowing us better manage player recruitment. Douglas Luiz at Girona, but an example of this.

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

The main motivation is to create a new sustainable business model for the state of Abu Dhabi as the oil revenues there continue to decline. They have invested in technology, property, and sports franchises across the world, we are the flagship for the CFG model. The Sheikh has already made big profits on his overall investment in Manchester. This will be amplified in future years in Japan, China, India, New York, Melbourne etc under a single worldwide brand. They are in it to make money and find new revenues to support their nation. Khaldoon has said this publically in interviews with the business media (one was published on here, I think it was Reuters) The suggestion that the Sheikh is a sugar daddy bankrolling us with oil money is totally false. The opposite is true. The press here are either too stupid or too biased to report this.

 

[acquiesce]

We will be hoping that football can become big in America, Australia & China. We can then follow the PL model & grow income streams like sponsorship & TV Rights.

There are major problems though. In America & Australia Soccer is only ever going to be a marginal game.
We also need other clubs to adopt our model. This makes these leagues more competitive & interesting which results in greater exposure. The other PL clubs have owners who are loathe to invest in their own clubs let alone sister clubs. PSG are the only club who can match our investment levels. There only focus though seems to be winning the CL.

China is very much in it's infancy but it's likely to be a bigger market than America & Australia combined. The problems we have here are the same as above. We are leading but need followers.

Going to have to disagree with you re: football only being marginal in the United States. It's now the 3rd highest average attended league and not terribly far off baseball. The league is expanding almost yearly.

Viewing figures of Premier League games continue to grow. The latest figures I can find after a quick search are from last September but they were up 10% for the season and the City/Liverpool match drew 2.5million, unheard of for that time of day. That doesn't include bar/pub viewers.

Yes MLS is not a big TV draw, but that is also improving. We have a team in NYCFC with close ties to MCFC. For emerging fans getting into football that may follow them but are looking for a Premier League team, it all allows and easy avenue towards City.

The game is only going to get bigger and I can easily see it overtaking baseball in 10 years time; something I would have thought unheard of even 5 years ago.

 

[Gordyola]

Why are the City Football Group buying clubs across the World?

Is it to leverage Manchester City? If it is, it wont work because no club wants to be a project for another. I don't understand the footballing or business rationale behind it.

I can see that it may offer at the margins some synergy for clubs associated within a wider group, but it must be a massive drain on financial and management resources.

I can think of two reasons for doing so

1) City have always faced efforts to marginalise us. Perhaps through making City a global phenomena we win friends and influence

2) Because we can. All clubs are projects of their owners. It enables the owner to have fingers in more pies. We have a concept of football that we want to spread throughout the world and if you are a billionaire why wouldn't you do it?

I am struggling to see a compelling argument about why it benefits MCFC or the supporters. I see no big downside either, but I struggle to get the concept.

Can anyone explain to me why I should be interested in the wider City Football Group? I can't explain it beyond the vague notions above.

I understand hsi philosphy is in his book

 

[Gareth Barry Conlon]

Why are the City Football Group buying clubs across the World?

Is it to leverage Manchester City? If it is, it wont work because no club wants to be a project for another. I don't understand the footballing or business rationale behind it.

I can see that it may offer at the margins some synergy for clubs associated within a wider group, but it must be a massive drain on financial and management resources.

I can think of two reasons for doing so

1) City have always faced efforts to marginalise us. Perhaps through making City a global phenomena we win friends and influence

2) Because we can. All clubs are projects of their owners. It enables the owner to have fingers in more pies. We have a concept of football that we want to spread throughout the world and if you are a billionaire why wouldn't you do it?

I am struggling to see a compelling argument about why it benefits MCFC or the supporters. I see no big downside either, but I struggle to get the concept.

Can anyone explain to me why I should be interested in the wider City Football Group? I can't explain it beyond the vague notions above.

Some good responses in this thread all ready so I will just add:

There is a bit of a carpet bagging strategy going on. Sport is growing in significance in emerging economies. They are eating up foreign sport but with it comes interest for there own domestic leagues. Who knows where this will go, what big leagues will emerge across Asia or the America's. Many are way behind western sport but growing at a huge rate - fast forward 5, 10, 20 years and what football will they be watching in Asia. Having clubs in each of the big leagues means that if something big takes of, like an Asian super league, then CFG are well placed to be in from the start.