Manchester and stock market football

The possible sale of Manchester United by the Glazer family to the Qatar Sports Investment consortium (linked to the Qatari government), could mean the largest financial operation in the history of sports (six billion dollars), but it also represents a good time for reflect on stock markets and football teams.

This 2023 marks the 40th anniversary of the first professional team (Tottenham) entering the stock market. Almost immediately around twenty European clubs were securitized and there was even a specialized index (Stoxx Europe Football), which lasted only 18 years and closed in 2020.

Emblematic clubs such as Ayax (Holland), Borussia Dortmund (Germany), Benfica (Portugal), Juventus (Italy), Olympique Lyonnais (France) and several of the leagues of Turkey, Poland, Denmark, Sweden and even Macedonia are listed on the stock market.

But perhaps the most iconic moment in the relationship between soccer and the stock markets was when on August 10, 2012, Manchester United entered the New York Stock Exchange, to the point that they even improvised a court in the meeting room. Wall Street auctions.

With the pandemic, the value of sports clubs fell by up to 50 percent on the stock markets and perhaps that is why they closed the European soccer index. Have the exchanges really been a good source of financing for the teams? Apparently not and the fans had little or no acquisition of shares in their favorite clubs. The Glazer family is known to hold 70 percent of the titles. How many of the rest are in the hands of fans? Surely very few.

Rings of Power

After last Monday’s meeting of the equestrian union, it was announced that the season at the Hipódromo de las Américas will begin on February 25, but very limited and with the rules imposed by the concessionaire without the intervention of federal authorities… On the field of play of the IPN there is a contract that would be around 350 million pesos and it is strange that Javier Tapia Santoyo, Secretary of Administration, has not adhered to the Framework Contract to carry out the process IA-11-B00-011B000001-N-90-2023. Will there be a whistle blown by Arturo Reyes Sandoval?… At the end of March, the III International Gambling Convention 2023 will be held in Santa Fe, Mexico City, organized by the Association of Permit Holders, Operators and Providers of the Industria del Entretenimiento y Juego de Apuestas (AIEJA) led by Miguel Ángel Ochoa Sánchez… The Reds of Mexico City announced that the team for this season will be made up of 55 players, of which 43 are nationals and 12 foreigners, from of the United States… The head of the Gender Equality and Non-Discrimination Unit of the Jalisco Congress, Itzul Barrera Rodríguez, could get a yellow card, because she is busier at the parties of the federal deputy for Chihuahua, Andrea Chávez, than at her legislative work. Is the leader of the Morena bench in Jalisco, José María, aware? Call Martínez?… Los Pericos de Puebla reported that for the 2023 season they will guarantee continuity with the repetition of Cuban-American Peter O’Brien, who hit the fence 32 times last year… The Mexican Accreditation Entity, chaired by Mario Gorena, directed by María Isabel López, scored a home run, being distinguished as an “Exceptional Company” by the Business Coordinating Council (CCE).

“In football, the fans don’t play the stock market”

The Stadium Philosopher

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