Red Bull

[Sniffer999]

Shirt sponsors for next season. Very big brand.
Should ensure we start games well....

[WTF11]

Shirt sponsors for next season. Very big brand.
Should ensure we start games well....

Serious question.....why would it ensure that?

[Monaco_Totty]

Not a fan of Red Bull, the product, their involvement in sport & its damn cans bobbing around my local sea shore - might as well add the Snuff nicotine company logo's on our shirt sleeve too.🙁

Just finished reading The Status Game by Will Storr who explains when human status gets challenged we instinctively fight to reassert our position (like cavemen who liked to dominate) - similar scenario for some football club owners today.
Been seriously delving into structures & products of the various differing football financing systems available now on the market for club owners.

For us, with the long contracts of Bamford, Roca, Llorente (circa 2 years left), then* with Piroe, Kristensen, Wober, Aarronsson (circa 3 years left) & Harrison (circa 4 years left), then the loans market looms for in's & out's surely.

Even if a player is valued at a high price their value usually declines over time irrespective of their performance & as a player is a physical asset - it's so important to understand their injury & performance records of their past to understand their "true value".

Interestingly more than 40% of PL clubs prior to the pandemic had raised funds against future broadcast revenues (increasing by 21% in three years) whilst a fifth had also obtained funding on future transfer income (increasing from 14% in three years), so i'd suspect were in that murky, mucky 'mire-category' too.

These loans taken up that allow a club to borrow against a percentage of the value of its playing squad with specific undertakings governing how receipts from future player sales are controlled & used are really popular today among owners.
Worryingly such loans may be secured against all the assets of a club or certain specific assets, such as its rights to the playing squad via the players’ playing contracts or Bank accounts into which "transfer-receivables" should be paid - meaning the club retains the ability to borrow additional debt against its rights to receive central Funds.😬

In both cases, clubs are permitted to grant such security to non-Financial Institutions as all-asset security can be granted to Financial Institutions & non-Financial Institutions pursuant to both the EPL’s & the EFL’s stated respective Rule 18 currently - thus widening the potential lender pool for clubs & in turn potentially reducing the cost of the debt & allowing clubs to borrow on less restrictive terms.

So any financing linked to a playing squad’s value really requires care to be taken to avoid breaching the rules & regulations imposed by the relevant league or FIFA, particularly regarding 3rd party influence, ownership & control, particularly those preventing 3rd parties malarkey in exercising undue influence of player selections & transfers & coaching appointments.

So yeah, the Red Bull connection aint welcome from me if they start wanting to have a bigger say like possible re-naming of ER too but of course the stadia needs a re-fit, so ?

Amazing how the rules shift "across the pond" debt wise too, was reading that the NFL increased the debt limit for new buyers to $1.4bn ! 😮
https://insidersport.com/2024/05/24/...w-buyers/?amp=

[bathlad61]

If club wants to move forward on and off the pitch, then serious money / investments will be required. The Red Bull brand and way of working is clear to all, so only time will tell, if they want to remain just a minor part, or as time goes by, gradually take a firmer hold. The 49ers and all their investors, will need to see a return, and who knows how long they will remain or continue to invest? no smoke without fire, as the saying goes!

[Sniffer999]

Serious question.....why would it ensure that?

Tongue in cheek in regards to the huge doses of caffeine found in a can of Red Bull.

Mrs T that's really interesting and I understand your dislike of Red Bull, the drink. But I have the same opinion as Bath lad. They do have lots of success over quite a period of time in sport. We are going to need all the financial help we can get.

[alfinyalcabo]

Only thing good about red bull are the soapbox races,Very entertaining to watch.

[Monaco_Totty]

1.

New York Times;
Hay asking Marathe questions tonight.

Paraag Marathe: It wasn’t that we were looking at needing capital investment. It’s not that we were looking at needing a front-of-shirt partner. We had other options as well. This came together and evolved over time. I understand the nuance, I understand the potential sensitivities, which is why the chemistry was really important to me. Six months ago, this was me doing it directly with Red Bull’s sporting CEO, Oliver Mintzlaff. It honestly started as a series of conversations, both on the phone and Zoom and in person, trying to get a feel for each other.

It wasn’t focused on front of shirt (sponsorship), it wasn’t focused on investment. It was, ‘What does something look like?’. My question was, ‘Why? Is there an interest at your end?’, and I’m sure he had similar questions of me.

What I’ll say first of all — Red Bull’s a global sporting organisation with lots of success, not just in football, but they hadn’t been in English football and there are how many clubs in the English pyramid? Of those clubs, they certainly had the resources to do a significant front-of-shirt sponsorship with any of them. Their preference was Leeds United.


They could have pursued an investment in any club in English football, and they chose Leeds United. They chose to do a minority partnership — which will continue to be a minority partnership — because they recognised the global potential of Leeds and what this club could be. They believe in our management of the squad and hopefully, specifically, my chairmanship of this club.

That’s not going to change; not today, not tomorrow. This is a minority partnership. The connection with a global sporting organisation like Red Bull is going to raise the profile and elevate the stature of Leeds. We all say this is a massive club, and it isn’t just a story. My sole focus is to make more money and pour every pound we make into (the team on) the pitch. My sole focus is making our team as competitive as possible.

It’s why I’ve said I hope we have a PSR (profitability and sustainability rules) issue every single year, because everything we do is going to be about maximising our ability to be as competitive as we can be. The partnership with Red Bull leads to more profile, to global revenue, to more money to buy players and keep players. That’s all I care about — keeping the squad as competitive as I can.

Hay: What are we actually talking about in terms of stake size? And how much is this worth to the club in terms of shirt sponsorship? What are the figures?

Marathe: On the investment side, the details I can share is that it’s a significant minority investment, but there are a handful of investors who have invested more, there are a handful of investors who’ve invested less.

It’s also important to note that everyone’s in this together. They’re all coming in with the same understanding and setup. What I mean is that we have a really good group of investors who I can lean on for advice. I’m smart enough to know what I don’t know, so when a situation arises that I haven’t seen before, I’ve got great individuals I can call. Red Bull is going to be another esteemed partner I can lean on when the time is right. They’re the same as everyone else who came in, and in line with everyone else.

From a front-of-shirt standpoint, it’s a significant deal for us. It’s a significant partnership, a partnership they were going to do whether we were in the Premier League or not (Leeds lost in the Championship play-off final last weekend). It’s a multi-year, long-term deal commercially that already has built into it, when we get promoted, a different number. There’s not a penny of it that’s going anywhere other than back into the pitch.

[Monaco_Totty]

*2.
From a front-of-shirt standpoint, it’s a significant deal for us. It’s a significant partnership, a partnership they were going to do whether we were in the Premier League or not (Leeds lost in the Championship play-off final last weekend). It’s a multi-year, long-term deal commercially that already has built into it, when we get promoted, a different number. There’s not a penny of it that’s going anywhere other than back into the pitch.

What influence will Red Bull have in the running of the club, then? And will it be represented on the Leeds board?

Marathe: The influence is as I said — just like any of our other significant investors. When I talk about chemistry of the squad, there’s also the chemistry of our investor group; making sure there’s a good feel, good participation and cooperation between them and me, and among our investors. I think we’ll have that.

But there’s no influence, unless there’s something (Red Bull can contribute to). We’re going to make the best decisions for Leeds United. We’re going to make the best player decisions and commercial decisions for Leeds United. Those are going to be empirically-based decisions and if, sometimes, with one of those decisions it might make sense to lean on them for advice, we’re going to do it.

Hopefully, I’m going to make as many good decisions as possible, with the best information possible. Maybe some of them don’t work out. But I’m going to do my best to make the best decisions for the club.

Like I said, if there’s an opportunity somewhere, or we identify a talent that might benefit us, we’ll go do that.

The other benefit of this is that, as minority investors in the club, they’re another set of eyes and ears — pretty darn keen and expert eyes and ears, in seeing other players in other leagues. Forget even about Red Bull players. They have extra eyeballs on a lot of players. As we evaluate and do the work for this window and future windows, we can say, ‘What do you think of this player?’. There’s things we can learn which we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to learn.

In terms of an official interplay between the clubs, there’s not one.

Hay: You’ll be aware of the criticism of Red Bull, and some of its history in football. Did that potentially dissuade you from partnering with the company? Did it come up in discussion?

Marathe: I wouldn’t say it was a concern. It’s definitely something I wanted to address. I’m not talking about whatever their positive or negative history is. I’m talking about understanding our history and understanding and respecting our legacy.

So, for example, this club is and will forever be Leeds United Football Club. It’s not going to be the Leeds Red Bulls. To be fair, they understand that. They appreciate that. They respect that. They know the legacy of this club, so it’s not something they wanted either. But for me, that was table stakes (a minimum requirement for a business arrangement). That’s not going to happen.

The only way this partnership was going to come to fruition was their recognition that, as minority investors, just as with the others, they’re there to lend advice when I need it but it’s our group’s management of this club and my leadership of this club. Let me say it again — that’s not going to change. This is a minority and minority-only partnership.

On the sensitivities, we wouldn’t have done this deal if it wasn’t significant for us. It could be the difference between saving a player from being sold or signing a player.

[Monaco_Totty]

3.
The only way this partnership was going to come to fruition was their recognition that, as minority investors, just as with the others, they’re there to lend advice when I need it but it’s our group’s management of this club and my leadership of this club. Let me say it again — that’s not going to change. This is a minority and minority-only partnership.

On the sensitivities, we wouldn’t have done this deal if it wasn’t significant for us. It could be the difference between saving a player from being sold or signing a player.

Hay: Do those same red lines apply to shirt colour, stadium naming rights, and so on — the things Red Bull has changed elsewhere?

Marathe: Listen, anything with Elland Road is just not on my radar whatsoever. It’s not contemplated and it’s never been a part of this discussion. I recognise, and I’ve been in sports too long not to know, that these stadiums are hallowed grounds.

Not to talk about something that happened a year ago (when a group including then outgoing Leeds’ chairman Andrea Radrizzani floated the idea of using Elland Road as security for a loan to buy Italian club Sampdoria) but that was something that was so ridiculous to me, not recognising the connection that fans have with their club and their temple.

As far as their logos go, you’ve seen it before. We’ll see how it ends up developing. Yes, they do have their (sponsorship) logos with bulls and things like that and this club has had a shirt partner in the past who had red on it (Red is a contentious colour at Leeds, owing to their long-standing rivalry with Manchester United). I understand the sensitivity of that but I want supporters to know that my focus is on keeping the legacy of this great club, doing everything we can to make us as competitive as we can be on the pitch.

Hay: What do you anticipate to be the fans’ reaction to this? From a financial point of view, they’ll understand the level of sponsorship. But the identity of the investors themselves could be a problem.

Marathe: I can imagine — I don’t want to say confusion — but maybe some eyebrows raised: ‘Wait a second — what does that mean? What’s going to happen? Is our name going to change? Is it going to suddenly be turned over into giving them control?’.

None of that is true or accurate. But I can understand that those will be the questions, which is why I wanted to make sure I talked about this. I hope that after unpeeling the onion a bit, fans will see this is about bringing resources to the club that help us be more competitive on the pitch — without sacrificing the integrity and the purity of what Leeds United is about.

Hay: A last question that people would probably appreciate having answered. There are lots of parties and individuals involved in the 49ers Enterprises group. Who now has tangible control over the policies and direction of the club? Who actually has a say in where the club are going?

Marathe: The short answer is that 49ers Enterprises is the sole GP (general partner) of this whole effort. If there’s an individual tasked with being responsible and accountable, that’s me. The buck stops with me. We have a board in place, which is there as a sounding board and a resource, but ultimately, accountability and the buck stops with me.

[Sniffer999]

Thanks Monaco