Manchester United too pricey for Hong Kong at 3 million US dollars

Dec 16, 2011, 6:58 GMT

Hong Kong - English Premier League team Manchester United have been deemed too expensive for Hong Kong after allegedly asking 3 million US dollars to play a pre-season friendly in the city, the football association said Friday.

According to Brian Leung, chairman of the Hong Kong Football Association, the team was seeking the huge amount to play a match in the former British colony during a planned tour of Asia next summer.

'They are asking for 3 million net profit. That means they want to put 3 million in their pockets and we would have to pay for everything, all the costs, airfares and hotel accommodation,' said Leung.

The asking price is considerably more than `that sought by rival team Liverpool FC, which asked for 1.5 million US dollars to play an exhibition match two years ago. That match never went ahead after the amount and associated demands about TV rights were said to be 'outrageous.'

Leung said Manchester United's fee and costs would make it difficult to break even from the match, despite the team's big fan base in Hong Kong.

'The maximum capacity at the Hong Kong stadium is 40,000. It is not big enough to hold all the fans. We would have to charge a minimum of 1,000 Hong Kong dollars (128 US dollars) a ticket just to break even,' Leung said.

'And when you are charging that for a ticket who knows how many people will come to see the game,' he added.

'We are dealing with an unknown figure and it is too risky. Unless we find a sponsor to cover the cost it is unlikely we can go ahead with the match,' he said.

Leung said adding to the risk was the fact that the tour would be around the time of the European Championships next summer which may mean some of the crowd-pulling players would not be available for the Asian tour.

However, fans may be luckier in China where two matches are believed to be going ahead at a cost of 6 million US dollars, Leung said.

'In China there are stadiums which hold up to 80,000 people which would make it easier to stage something like this and recover costs,' he said.

Manchester United, which has won a record 19 top league titles in England, is hugely popular throughout Asia, home to more than 100 million of their estimated 660 million fans, according to a report this year by market research company TNS.

The team last visited Hong Kong in 2005, beating their hosts 2-0.

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