English soccer champions Manchester United highlighted the soaring value of television rights for live games on Thursday after broadcast and sponsorship deals pushed quarterly revenues to a record high.
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English Premier League clubs are benefiting from a battle between pay TV company BSkyB and former state telecoms company BT for supremacy in the sports market.
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BT, expanding aggressively into a market long dominated by BSkyB, last weekend agreed to pay £900 million for rights to Europe's Champions League and Europa League competitions for three years from 2015. That is more than double what BSkyB and ITV currently pay.
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"The value of content is rising. Sport is the must- have content and football is the world's No 1 sport," said Ed Woodward, United's executive vice-chairman.
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Woodward said the new BT deal would be worth upwards of £10 million a season to English clubs playing in the Champions League, the most prestigious European competition.
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United generated revenue of £98.5 million in the three months to September 30, the first quarter of its financial year and a period that included the start of the soccer season.
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The figure was boosted by new sponsorship deals with Russian airline Aeroflot and US soft drinks company PepsiCo , businesses keen to associate with one of the world's best-known sports teams.
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United, controlled by the American Glazer family, reported core profit (EBITDA) of £22 million in the quarter, up 36 percent year on year and ahead of forecasts.
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The club is forecasting full-year revenue of £420-430 million, closing the gap on European rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona, who benefit from negotiating their own TV deals rather than the pooled deals agreed by the Premier League.
That is what you just have to hear when we're talking great football teams in England. United is just great
Manchester United is always a force to reckon with when it comes to Revenues