United lose rich team title to Real Madrid

　　曼联丢失足球俱乐部首富桂冠

　　2006年2月17日 星期五

　　曼联丢失足球俱乐部首富桂冠 United lose rich team title to Real Madrid

　　曼联（Manchester United）在雄踞世界最富有足球俱乐部宝座8年之后，将其拱手送给了皇家马德里（Real Madrid），部分原因在于大卫？贝克汉姆（David Beckham）的转会。

　　Manchester United has lost its title of the world‘s richest football club to Real Madrid after eight years， partly because of the sale of David Beckham.

　　德勤会计师事务所（Deloitte）自9年前开始，对足球俱乐部财务状况进行年度评审，而曼联一直高居“德勤足球财富排行榜”（Deloitte Football Money League）榜首。这家英超俱乐部的广告收入一直超出其本土及欧洲竞争对手。

　　United has topped the Deloitte Football Money League since the accountancy firm began an annual review of football finance nine years ago. The Premiership club generated more commercial income consistently than its rivals in England and in Europe.

　　但曼联在2003年将其明星球员贝克汉姆出售给了西班牙俱乐部皇马。皇马还引进了其他一些像齐内丁？齐达内（Zinedine Zidane）这样的“超级巨星”，从而拥有了一个提高广告收入的平台。

　　But the sale of the star player in 2003 to Real， and the Spanish club‘s purchase of other so-called galacticos， such as Zinedine Zidane， gave it a platform from which to increase its commercial revenues.

　　上述调查衡量的是收入而非利润，同时无法将支出能力等因素考虑在内。如果包含这一因素，切尔西（Chelsea）无疑将成为胜者，这要归功于罗曼？阿布拉莫维奇（Roman Abramovich）的财富。罗曼？阿布拉莫维奇是一位俄罗斯富豪，也是切尔西的东家。

　　The study measures revenues rather than profits and is unable to include factors such as spending power. In such a study， Chelsea would be the clear winner thanks to the wealth of Roman Abramovich， its owner and Russian tycoon.

　　然而，以收入衡量，皇马是毫无争议的领先者。在2004至05赛季，该俱乐部的营业收入为2.757亿欧元（合1.862亿英镑），高于曼联的1.664亿英镑。

　　In revenue terms， however， Real Madrid is the undisputed leader. It generated turnover of ?275.7m （￡186.2m） in the 2004-05 season against United‘s ￡166.4m.

　　排名曼联之后表现最为优异的英格兰俱乐部是切尔西，其收入为1.491亿英镑，紧随其后的是利物浦（Liverpool）和阿森纳（Arsenal），收入分别为1.224亿英镑和1.157亿英镑。

　　After United， the next best-performing English club was Chelsea with revenues of ￡149.1m， followed by Liverpool on ￡122.4m and Arsenal on ￡115.7m.

　　体育商业集团皇马的合伙人丹？琼斯（Dan Jones）表示：“商业收入一直是皇马的主要发展驱动力，比如赞助费和品牌授权使用费等。”

　　“The main driver for [Real] Madrid has been commercial income， such as sponsorship and merchandising，” said Dan Jones， partner in the sports business group.

　　他表示，在这一点上，皇马应该感谢自己的球星，他们帮助俱乐部销售球衣复制品，还帮俱乐部签下赞助合同。“4年前，皇马的广告收入为3800万欧元。如今已增长了两倍，达到了1.24亿欧元，这非常了不起。”

　　For this， Real could thank its star players， who help it sell replica shirts and strike sponsorship deals， he said. “Four years ago， Madrid was generating ?38m of commercial revenues. It‘s risen by a factor of three to ?124m， which is phenomenal.”

　　该俱乐部在广告收入方面“打破了既定模式”。“排行榜上大多数其它俱乐部的收入增长，往往更多地来自于转播和比赛日收入。”

　　The club had “broken the mould” for commercial income. “Growth for most other clubs in the table has tended to come more from broadcasting and match day income.”

　　不过，德勤表示，皇马广告主导的优势地位不久将面临压力。曼联最近被美国的格雷泽（Glazer）家族收购，正在扩建老特拉福德体育场（Old Trafford，该俱乐部主场，译者注），将座位增加到7万个以上，这将提高比赛日收入。

　　However， Deloitte said Real‘s commercial dominance would soon face pressure. United， acquired recently by the US Glazer family， is extending its Old Trafford stadium to more than 70，000 seats， which will boost match-day revenues.

　　琼斯先生说：“意大利的尤文图斯（Juventus）和AC米兰（AC Milan）刚刚签下大额的转播协议订单，而阿森纳新建了一座体育场。切尔西也在增加其收入，因此，第一的位置有许多重量级球队在争夺。”

　　“Juventus and AC Milan [of Italy] have just done massive broadcasting deals while Arsenal have a new stadium. Chelsea are also increasing their income so there are a lot of heavyweights gunning for top position，” said Mr Jones

　　译者/梁鸥 徐柳