United’s £2bn dream meets reality

This weekend, the elite club of princesses, lords, Oscar winners and gold medallists that makes up the membership of the International Olympic Committee will begin their journey to a swish (and hard to reach) beach resort in southern Greece. In a few days, they will decide who becomes the next president of the IOC, one of the most powerful jobs in global sport.

There is some buzz around “the so-called Olympic movement” after the success of Paris and a new $3bn contract extension with NBC, the IOC’s most important commercial partner, announced just this week. NBC will now be a “strategic partner” of the IOC, taking on new responsibilities in production, distribution and advertising — a sign of how relationships between broadcasters and rights holders are changing rapidly. Such additional services may also help push up the “value” of the deal, without requiring the Comcast-owned cable network to hand over more cash. Curiously, the press release noted that the contract itself, though agreed, has not actually been signed.

There are clouds on the IOC’s horizon. After an exodus of big sponsors, there are growing doubts about the future viability of the current business model. There is also rising tension within the organisations that depend on the IOC for money — many of them have seen little growth in their funding for over a decade, a time of high inflation. Meanwhile, the IOC has more than doubled its headcount and spent hundreds of millions on a new HQ and its own streaming platform.

For the full picture on the stakes in next week’s vote, read our Big Read here.

This week we’re taking a closer look at Manchester United’s grand plans for a new stadium. Plus we have a preview of the new Formula 1 season, which begins this weekend in Australia. Do read on — Josh Noble, sports editor

United’s stadium vision: master plan or mirage?

Everyone loves a wacky new stadium concept design, and this week Manchester United did not disappoint. On Monday, it gathered media to an architecture studio on the banks of the river Thames in central London to unveil its plans for the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal some 200 miles to the north.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, United’s minority shareholder, promised to build “the most iconic stadium in the world”, one that could rival the Eiffel Tower in terms of tourist pull. Lord Norman Foster, whose team designed the plans, lauded the potential to create one of the world’s biggest covered public spaces, under a circus tent-like canopy that will capture rain water and solar energy (to be fair, Old Trafford is good at capturing rain water, just not in the right places). The three 200-metre spires, we are told, are there to evoke the trident wielded by the red devil featured on the United badge.

Stadium reveals are always fun, but can easily drift into science fiction. Few still remember the ambitions Crystal Palace once had for returning to the site of the Victorian-era Grand Exhibition, which included a subterranean aquatics centre. The idea was ditched just a few months after being unveiled. Both AC Milan and Inter seem unlikely to follow through with their more recent grand designs.

With United, there are major hurdles ahead. The master plan relies on shifting a rail freight terminal that currently sits next to Old Trafford. This is far from simple, and requires major infrastructure investment across the north-west of England.

That brings in the question of government involvement. Andy Burnham, mayor of Manchester, has talked up the prospects of up to £300mn of state money to get the ball rolling on the broader regeneration project for south-west Manchester. Chancellor Rachel Reeves wants to back a handful of big projects to boost economic growth, and this is a big one — so the priorities of the club and the cabinet are aligned.

But the optics of deploying scarce taxpayer money to support the ambitions of a Monaco-based billionaire and a US-listed business are obviously fraught — especially when the current headlines are about the club cutting local jobs while overpaid stars are stuck on the payroll.

There is also the key question of funding. A club the size of United has plenty of ways to find the £2bn needed to build a new venue, but they may not come cheap. Barcelona tapped the bond market to finance its $1.5bn upgrade of Camp Nou. While probably the cheapest option out there, it leaves the club more exposed to global interest rates.

Private equity funds and other institutional investors would no doubt line up to help finance United’s build, but that could involve signing over future revenue or agreeing to a chunky interest payment.

One group of people with plenty of money is the Glazer family, who still own nearly two-thirds of United. Yet they were notably absent from both the presentation of the new plans and the accompanying press release. United executives insist the Glazers are “100 per cent” behind the project.

So, will a “new icon rise”, as the Gary Neville voiced promo video suggests? The political will is there, the money can probably be found, but there is an enormous amount of work to be done before we see any tent pegs in the ground.

Formula 1 races into crunch season

This is a huge season for Formula 1. The headline news is that Sir Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari should be great for business. Everybody wants to see the sport’s most famous driver racing in red. It’s the seven-time champion’s biggest challenge so far.

But beneath the surface, there are huge changes taking place. F1 is getting into merchandising (Including a tie-up with Lego) as part of a wider strategy to get closer to fans.

Speaking of those fans, female content creators are bringing the sport to a new generation. How will a male-dominated sport adjust to a growing online fan base of Gen Z women? This race engineer is charting her own trailblazing course. Racing teams want to connect to F1’s fastest-growing audience through music, fashion and social media.

And speaking of age, the drivers just keep getting younger.

But there are risks and opportunities.

Can the Shanghai Grand Prix maintain momentum without hometown hero Zhou Guanyu?

F1 is seeking a new US media rights deal, aiming to expand its reach and surpass the roughly $85mn ESPN currently pays annually for broadcasting rights.

And F1 has tweaked its ticketing strategy for the Las Vegas Grand Prix after last year’s event suffered from softer hospitality and ticket sales.

The stakes are high because Liberty Media invested big money to acquire land and build a state of the art spectacle. It’s the only race on the calendar the F1 handles itself instead of working with a third-party promoter.

The outcome of those commercial endeavours will arguably define F1’s year.

In a chart: Chelsea’s galactico era

Chelsea’s squad in the financial year ending 2024 was the most expensive ever assembled, according to a new Uefa report. The €1.66bn total surpasses the previous highs set by Manchester United in 2023 (€1.42bn) and Real Madrid in 2020 (€1.33bn).

Chelsea’s squad value is one of four Premier League sides to top €1bn, along with Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal. Nine of the most expensive 20 clubs in Europe are based in England’s top flight.

Highlights

• Donald Trump’s son Eric talked golf and investment with Scotland’s first minister John Swinney. The US president’s golf properties were a particular feature of the discussion. Last weekend, activists sprayed Turnberry’s buildings with red paint.

• Billionaire Stephen Ross’s Relevent Sports won the global rights to market the Champions League and Uefa’s wider pool of men’s club competitions, in a deal that could shake up the way elite European football approaches the media market and commercial partners.

• Simon Sadler moved to Hong Kong in 1999, made a fortune, and bought his local football club, Blackpool FC. But the hedge fund titan now faces the possibility of jail as he fights accusations of insider trading. The FT’s Kaye Wiggins spoke to almost 70 people to chronicle the Sadler story in this magazine piece.

• The MLB’s Tampa Bay Rays are abandoning plans to build a $1.3bn stadium in St. Petersburg, Florida, leaving the team’s future in the area up in the air. Its current domed ballpark faces millions of dollars of repairs after its roof was blown off in a hurricane last year. Final Whistle

Final Stop

Sticking to the Formula 1 theme, Lewis Hamilton gave the world a small glimpse of the marketing potential of his Ferrari move. He recreated the Ferrari scene from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, one of his favourite films.

“It definitely took a lot of cutting edge tech, production and planning to get right. Had to get the exact car too . . . it’s been a dream car since seeing the movie,” Hamilton posted on Instagram.

His acting isn’t bad either. Drive carefully, everyone!