Murdoch Buys British Soccer Club
The board of Manchester United, among the world's wealthiest soccer clubs, has accepted a record 623.4 million pound ($1 billion) buyout offer from Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB satellite television company.
The deal, announced Wednesday, was the highest price ever paid for a sports team and evoked a storm of protest from fans and some lawmakers. Many charged it would give the Australian-born media magnate a stranglehold on televising Premier League soccer.
A supporters' club vowed to fight the deal, which needs the approval of shareholders and the government. Protests were urged at Wednesday night's match against Charlton Athletic.
"We've certainly not betrayed our supporters," Manchester United chief executive Martin Edwards said, facing a string of largely hostile questions at a joint news conference. "We've secured a safe future for them."
The offer, in cash and shares, values Manchester United shares at about 240 pence ($3.96) each. BSkyB offered 120 pence ($1.98) plus 0.2537 BSkyB shares for each Manchester United share.
The price far outstripped the $350 million that Fox Sports, a division of Murdoch's News Corp., paid for the Los Angeles Dodgers in March, a record price for a baseball team.
It also nearly doubles the amount paid by billionaire Alfred Lerner for the ownership rights to the new Cleveland Browns, the most expensive sports team transaction in U.S. history. Lerner paid the National Football League $530 million, including $54 million for stadium costs.
BSkyB chief executive Martin Booth tried to allay fans' fears.
"Our interests are 100 percent aligned with the Manchester United fans," Booth said. "They want to win the league, so do we. They want to win the (Football Association) cup, so do we. They want to have the best players and best manager, so do we."
But Andy Walsh, chairman of the newly formed Independent Manchester United Supporters Association, said his group would fight the deal "at all costs."
"If not, we will not be Manchester United any longer, we will just be part of his organization," he said of Murdoch.
Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor Party government reiterated that the takeover would be referred to the Office of Fair Trading.
The issue is sensitive for Blair. The Murdoch-owned Sun, Britain's biggest-selling daily newspaper, switched support from the Conservative Party to Labor at national elections last year and Blair is vulnerable to charges of owing Murdoch a favor.
As well as concerns about a major broadcaster now owning a major soccer club, the criticisms reflected strong emotional attachments to Manchester United.
Asked how many times Murdoch has visited Old Trafford, the club's grounds, Booth replied, "It is not relevant whether Mr. Murdoch goes to the game or not."
He also denied BSkyB had struck the deal because its current sole right to broadcas Premier League matches runs out in 2001.
"Murdoch wants to sit on one side of the table offering a price for televised games, then move round and sit on the other side for Manchester United, accepting or rejecting it," said Joe Ashton, a Labor lawmaker who is chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on soccer. "That can't be fair."
The Sun, under a front-page headline "It's A Deal," and the other big British daily newspaper owned by Murdoch's News Corp., The Times of London, reported the takeover enthusiastically.
But rivals stoked the criticism.
"Sold To The Red Devil," announced The Mirror, alongside a front-page picture of Murdoch with horns.
Written By Mitch Stacy