After finishing in seventh place last season in the English Premier League, Manchester United has rebounded under the leadership of manager Louis Van Gaal. However, that seventh-place finish is not helping their revenues in the 2014-2015 season.
The top four teams in the Premier League qualify for the UEFA Champions League and Man U missed the cut following a tumultuous campaign last season. They also did not qualify for the second-tier competition - the Europa League - either. Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal are currently competing in the Champions League while Everton and Tottenham are playing in the Europa League.
Manchester United's absence from both of these leagues, especially the Champions League, has caused them to witness a 12.2% decline in revenue in the first two quarters of the financial year, according to the English club, via BBC.com. Although they made up for losses in broadcast revenues (£8.9m) with a 23% increase in sponsorship revenues (£8.2 million), Man U was not awarded payments from Nike because of their absence from the Champions League.
As their revenues have decreased overall, their debts have increased from £356.6 million to £380.5 million, according to ESPNFC.com. They project to hit revenues between £385 million and £395 million by the end of the year, but that will be at least £40 million below last year's earnings.
However, executive vice chairman Ed Woodward said the club is in "a healthy financial position" thanks to the new Premier League television rights deal, which is worth (£5.1 billion) over the next three years for live broadcasts in the United Kingdom. Additionally, the team is positioned to finish in the top four of this year's Premier League and should return to the Champions League if all goes as planned.
"The Manchester United marketing machine remains in full drive, with a near 10% increase in commercial revenues for the [last three-month] period and an overall profit for the half-year, albeit lower than the prior year," said Richard Hunter, the Head of Equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers, via BBC.
Manchester United (47 points) currently sits in third place behind Manchester City and Chelsea in the Premier League. Southamption (46), Arsenal (45), Tottenham (43) and Liverpool (42) aren't too far behind the Red Devils, so they'll need to keep up the consistency under Van Gaal to reach the Champions League next season and boost revenues for the following year.
