Football Fever

I am delighted that Tony Collingridge, the Director of UK Trade & investment in Malaysia, has agreed to write a guest blog on the Premier League and the importance of an overseas business strategy. As an ardent Liverpool supporter, I would just like to add that we remain one of the best-supported clubs in Malaysia despite our lack of success!

Even though I’m a lifelong Chelsea fan, my wife and I were very surprised and fortunate to host some representatives of Manchester City Football Club – the English Premier League Champions, at our home in Kuala Lumpur last month. It was the first time the club had visited Malaysia, and they decided to join the UK Trade & Investment north-west trade mission pre-briefing, to hear more about the Malaysian market and meet the missioners from their home town.

They even brought the English Premier League trophy. Manchester City Football Club may be bigger and more famous than some of the companies on the mission, but they were visiting South East Asia for exactly the same reason. Like many British companies they recognise that in order to succeed in today’s business market, their overseas business strategy needs to be just as effective and successful as their domestic business strategy.

The English Premier League that kicks off on 18 August, is a great example of a successful international business; the most popular football league in the world with a global audience of billions and the highest revenue of any football league in the world.  In 2010, it was recognised by Her Majesty the Queen with the Queen’s Award for Enterprise, the highest official UK award for British business.  The Premier League received the accolade for its outstanding contribution to international trade, and the value it brings to English football and the UK broadcasting industry.

When the Premier League started in 1992 there was just one international broadcast agreement, now there are 84 agreements servicing 212 territories all across the world and it is broadcast into an estimated 650 million homes reaching a global audience of billions. This worldwide popularity commands big rewards.

Its live TV rights are worth a reported £3 billion as of 2013-14, with foreign TV rights contributing just under £2 billion.  As well as the TV rights the Premier League also has lucrative sponsorship deals. Barclays recently signed a new three year £120 million deal with the Premier League to continue its global title sponsorship through to the end of the 2015-16 season. The new sponsorship deal is worth £40 million per year a 45% increase in comparison to the previous £27.5 million per year contract.

Apart from very effective negotiating skills, the Premier League’s success is due to the global appeal of the football clubs that play in the Premier League. Although Manchester United failed to win any trophies last season, as the world’s most popular football club they are the team to beat. In a recent survey commissioned by the club, it was estimated in the last five years it has doubled its global fan base to 659 million fans; and over half of its fan base come from Asia-Pacific. This means that 10% of the world’s population support Manchester United, helping to make Manchester United the world’s most valuable sports team, according to Forbes.

In Asia, the Premier League is particularly popular and is the most widely distributed sports programme. On the streets of Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Seoul you will find lifelong football fans that are as ardent and committed as the ones you will find in England. To ensure this continues the Premier League has set up the Premier League Asia Trophy, the only Premier League affiliated tournament ever to take place outside England.

The pre-season tournament gives Asian fans the opportunity to see their favourite clubs play live and last year while posted in Hong Kong I was able to watch Chelsea win the title with my wife who was over eight months pregnant at the time!  The tournament has also been successfully held to sell-out crowds in Malaysia, Thailand and China.

As the Prime Minister said, to be successful UK companies need to look beyond their shores and target the newly prosperous markets in Asia that are faring far better in the global economic downturn than Europe. This is why Manchester City, Arsenal and Queen’s Park Rangers all visited and played in Malaysia last month.

As Director of Trade & Investment in Malaysia I look forward to welcoming and working with all UK companies that want to build their business in Malaysia and hopefully that will include Chelsea visiting Kuala Lumpur next year!