Manchester United is still the leading sponsorship platform in English football, according to a new report from sponsorship analytics firm DataPOWA.
In the latest POWA Index end-of-season report on England’s top clubs, Manchester United finished comfortably ahead of the rest of the top six in terms of sponsorship metrics, despite finishing sixth in the Premier League.
The index, shown exclusively to SportBusiness Sponsorship, puts United top of the table with a score of 61,950, ahead of Arsenal (44,754), Liverpool (44,439) and Chelsea (41,691).
Despite winning the Premier League and wrapping up a domestic treble, Manchester City finished fifth in the POWA Index with a score of 29,352. Tottenham Hotspur finished sixth with a score of 13,695.
Developed by London and New York-based DataPOWA, the POWA Index is based on analysis of trillions of data points from sources including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Google, Bing, broadcast, sports media, gaming and financial data.
The scores attributed to the results are designed to provide a market valuation by benchmarking rights-holders in relation to each other.
The index dramatically underscores the chasm in sponsorship power between the major clubs and the remainder of the Premier League. AFC Bournemouth sits in 20th place in the table with an Index score of 1,500 – just 2.5 per cent of United’s.
Four major clubs – Aston Villa, Leeds United, Stoke City and West Bromwich Albion – make the top 20 despite currently playing in the second-tier Championship.
Cardiff City and Huddersfield Town, who were both relegated this season, are outside the top 20 along with Premier League survivors Brighton and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
For context, Manchester United are in fifth position among all global sports properties. That list is headed by the National Basketball Association (105,733).
United also rank behind Spanish soccer giants FC Barcelona (100,192) and Real Madrid (93,897).