Adidas and Nike are not the only soccer brands hoping to leverage lingering U.S. excitement over the 2014 World Cup. The Glazer family disclosed Wednesday that it had upped the amount of Manchester United plc stock it would sell to the public next week by half to 12 million shares.



MANU, as it’s known by both fans and investors, said that Red Football LLC would offer the shares at $17. Red Football is controlled by descendants of former team owner and billionaire Malcolm Frazer, who died May 29.

 

If underwriters fully exercise their option to purchase up to an additional 1.8 million shares, the Red Football will reduce its holdings from 57.9 percent of the MANU’s Class A shares to 23.2 percent. The Glazer family will retain control of the team through its ownership of 83.1 percent of MANU’s Class B shares, which have super voting rights. MANU, which will receive no proceeds from the offering, expects it to close Aug. 11, subject to customary closing conditions.

 

 

The Glazers have clearly timed the sale to take advantage of growing U.S. interest in pro soccer and the rapidly dimming halo of the 2014 World Cup. A PowerPoint presentation being used by the company to woo investors claims the U.S. TV audience for Premiere League soccer games grew from 13.3 million in 2013 to 31.5 million this year, making it the league’s fastest growing TV market. It also reports that 24 percent of U.S. soccer fans follow the MANU and that Americans viewed more than twice as much coverage of the 2014 World Cup as they did coverage of the 2012 Summer Olympics.

 

 

The offering also comes in the wake of  the club’s record-setting kit sponsorship and merchandising deals. Last month, MANU announced Adidas had guaranteed the club at least £750 million in revenue over 10 years to secure the rights to make the team’s kits and manage its kit sponsorship, wholesale apparel, direct-to-consumer and product licensing operations. Adidas will take over that business from Nike after the current season ends in July, 2015. The sum includes $559 million in revenues from a seven-year kit-sponsorship deal with Chrysler that kicked off this season and runs through 2021. The two deals mark the richest such agreements ever reached on behalf of a professional sports team, according to MANU, which claims to have more fans than any other pro sports team in the world.

 

 

MANU reported Wednesday that preliminary figures indicate it took in £188-£190 million ($305-308 mm) from its Nike agreement in the fiscal year ended June 30, up 23 to 25 percent from a year earlier. That reflects the teams share of all revenue earning by Nike managing the company’s wholesale jersey sales, kit sponsorship, direct-to-consumer, product licensing and merchandising operations. Those businesses generated approximately $61 million in revenue for MANU in fiscal 2013.

 

Next week’s offering of MANU stock is being managed by Jefferies LLC, BofA Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and Nomura Securities International, Inc.