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Man UTD's official fiscal 2025 results show a total revenue of £666.5 million despite finishing 15th in the 2024/25 Premier League season.
Breaking down that figure, commercial revenue was £333.3 million (up 10% YoY), sponsorship revenue was £188.4 million (up 6% YoY), and matchday revenue was £160.3 million (up 16.9% YoY).
That’s impressive for a team that massively underperformed. Even towards the end of the 2025/2026 season, they’re sitting in 3rd place. They may even finish here. That’s much better than the 15th from last year.
But how have they managed to increase revenue while the team has performed badly? This is something that needs to be carefully broken down as it determines the future of the club.
What Drove This Revenue?
The first was their unbelievable sponsorship strength. Just one of the club deals, for example, with Snapdragon, was worth £60 million that year. They are only a front-of-shirt partner as well; they’re not a kit sponsor or a ground sponsor.
Adding to this, you have commercial deals. United has partner agreements across regional categories, lifestyle brands, technology, and consumer goods. Several pass United-theme perks back to their customers as well, like SportsBreaks. They package Old Trafford stadium tours, F&B vouchers, merchandise, and more into single packages, offering more value to customers.
This type of cross-promotion is similar to what's seen in the wider entertainment industry. Bingo offers, like "spend £10 and get £30 worth of free bingo tickets for new players", are commonly used to increase the first-time purchase value of customers, mimicking the "value" strategy Sportsbreaks uses.
The club has also restructured its operations slightly. Under Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS minority ownership, the club went through a major cost-cutting strategy in 2024/2025. This included everything from redundancies to tighter operational expenses.
All of these reasons are why Man United still drove record numbers. Though they had a bad season, the people in the shirts and ties behind the club were busy driving business and cutting costs.
Why It Worked for Man UTD
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The revenue model worked because of their strong branding and commercial deals. Man UTD is 100+ years old, and they’ve been in the Premier League for 30+ years. Therefore, sponsors didn’t drop out just because of one bad season.
In fact, they did the exact opposite. It seemed like they piled in. The exact reason isn’t clear. However, it’s probably because they needed it. No cup wins, no league wins, etc., means less money for the transfer window, so they decided to generate revenue this way.
The Future of Their Revenue
Looking ahead, Fiscal 2026 and 2027 will likely be even more positive. They’ve done extremely well in the 2025/2026 season. This is set to end soon, and it looks positive for the club, so their finances will likely improve from last year.
Without question, 2025 was a bad year for the club. They’ve been competing in the top 10 since the 1989/90 season, so even though it looked bad, overall, they’ve performed well for over 20 years, which is what will drive revenue in the club. |
