Manchester United Releases Travel Roster For U.S. Tour, Tickets Still Available

by Jeremiah Oshan on Jul 9, 2011 8:33 AM PDT in Sounders: Friendlies

Manchester United has released the travel roster for their upcoming U.S. tour which, of course, includes a match against the Seattle Sounders on July 20. Among the players that will be making the trip are Javier Hernandez (Chicharito), Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Young, Nani, Ji-Sung Park, Michael Carrick and Ryan Giggs.

Complete roster:

GOALKEEPERS: Ben Amos (ENG), David de Gea (ESP)*, Sam Johnston (ENG), Andres Lindegaard (DEN)

DEFENDERS: Fabio Da Silva (BRA), Rafael Da Silva (BRA), Jonny Evans (NIR), Patrice Evra (FRA), Rio Ferdinand (ENG), Phil Jones (ENG)*, Chris Smalling (ENG)*, Nemanja Vidic (SRB)

MIDFIELDERS: Anderson (BRA), Michael Carrick (ENG), Tom Cleverley (ENG)*, Ryan Giggs (WAL), Nani (POR), Gabriel Obertan (FRA), Ji-Sung Park (KOR)

FORWARDS: Dimitar Berbatov (BUL), Mame Biram Diouf (SEN), Javier Hernandez (MEX)*, Federico Macheda (ITA), Michael Owen (ENG), Wayne Rooney (ENG), Danny Welbeck (ENG)*, Ashley Young (ENG)

MANAGER: Sir Alex Ferguson

Tickets for the match are still available through TicketMaster, but if you want good seats, there are plenty available in the Sounder at Heart Ticket Center. Tickets are still available for as cheap as $40, and you can even get a seat around midfield for less than $60 (albeit in the 300 section). Believe it or not, the Manchester United match is a relative bargain compared to some of the prices for many of this summer's friendlies, checking in at the 10th highest average ticket price.

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Its funny

I have much less interest in seeing ManU in a friendly than I do a regular season matchup. My wife though, who is a more casual fan, really wants to see ManU.

I suppose they know their audience and if casual fans will pay a ridiculous price for the ticket than more power to them. Just invest all that money into a glorious striker who will give Montero the space he needs and I will be a happy boy!

by brokejumper on Jul 9, 2011 9:18 AM PDT reply actions

yeah, make no bones about it

This game is not for the hardcore Sounders fan. It’s about expanding the fanbase.

Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, MLS editor SB Nation. Follow me on Twitter

by Jeremiah Oshan on Jul 9, 2011 9:21 AM PDT up reply actions

If average price of the SEA-Man. U game is $118 and we estimate 60,000 fans

$118 × 60,000 = $7,080,000

Hey…we can afford Prince Tagoe / Other-Big-Name-Striker now!

I know its not that simple, and we cant know for sure the attendance (but I believe the Barcelona game had 60,000+ fans?), but we sure are making a lot of money from this one game. Add in the food and beverage sales and oh boy.

by SeahawksPhan on Jul 9, 2011 9:26 AM PDT reply actions

I just thought this over and it doesn't really make sense.

Is the $118 average price for the game the average price for the remaining tickets? Because I believe the Man U. game was part of the 3 game $99 package right?

If that’s so, then replace the $118 with $33, and we’re still making $2,000,000 without even counting parking, food, and beverage sales.

by SeahawksPhan on Jul 9, 2011 9:28 AM PDT up reply actions

Yes, that is the average price on the secondary market

And, only about 6-7000 of the three packs were sold. Those MLS seats sold for 15 each, so the United package raised 69$ for just that game from those packages. My seats in 214 were 72$ for season ticket holders.

Total ticket revenue for this match will be greater than 5 Million. Even after paying United the club still makes a ton of money and expands its audience.

I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart

by Dave Clark on Jul 9, 2011 9:33 AM PDT up reply actions

Some of that revenue will be eaten up by expenses

There’s plenty of costs that come out of the ticket price including salaries for the workers, payments for traffic cops, power, and payments that go in the general fund for maintenance, bond interest, capital improvements, etc. It’s pretty difficult to estimate earnings from revenue without knowing expenses.

by Dizzo on Jul 9, 2011 12:30 PM PDT up reply actions

My GA ticket for ManU is $60

Even though all those expenses associated with hosting a game add up, there will still be a nice chunk of cash coming in from this friendly. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think the club could clear ~$2 million in profit from the game.

by MicahRowe18 on Jul 9, 2011 1:17 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions

Don't forget cost of grass!

by Milo1 on Jul 9, 2011 2:18 PM PDT up reply actions

"Eaten up by expenses"...

First off, that’s true of every game. So I’m not sure what “expenses” you think are different for this game (other than the sod).
Also, nothing agaist Man Utd, but I would have sold my ticket to this game rather than go. The problem is that my (normally $30) ticket is priced at $77!! (so the FO could pretend to give me a refund for the LAG travesty last year?) So even IF I got someone to pay a hundred bucks, that wouldn’t even cover the cost of one game…

by Sobchak on Jul 9, 2011 4:02 PM PDT up reply actions

the added costs...

are paying ManUtd’s guarantee.

Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, MLS editor SB Nation. Follow me on Twitter

by Jeremiah Oshan on Jul 9, 2011 4:15 PM PDT up reply actions

ManUtd requires certain payment for any friendly game

I do not how much are paid for 2011 US tour, but I know that Barcelona currently requires approx. $3M per individual game, so there is your additional expense.

How is your ticket -$77? I thought the tickets for ManUtd are part of the season ticket package.

I personally do not like friendly games in soccer. Also, the US teams do not have anything to gain from these games from the competitive point of the game. If Sounders are defeated, it is expected, but if they somehow win, everyone will say, oh well, ManUtd just starting their preparation or they did not play with the best team. Having said that, I still think it is important for Sounders and all other MLS teams to organize games like that because they attract additional people that usually do not watch soccer, so maybe some of these people will like the atmosphere and everything else around the game and start visiting regular season games too. That would be the greatest benefit of these friendlies games.

by seattle 13 on Jul 9, 2011 4:21 PM PDT up reply actions

Seattle 13--"How is your ticket $77?"

That’s what I want to know! The ticket is part of the season ticket package.Technically, I could have “opted out” of the friendly, so I guess that’s on me. My standard season ticket price is $30 per game. The ticket for “2011 Friendly Match; Date, Time and Opponent To Be Determined” is $77…

67,000 X $30-40 (the typical increased price I’ve seen over standard season tickets. Single game tickets for this match are closer to $50, $70, or more) equals around $2,500,000, so I guess we could say the Sounders are being “conservative” in their pricing?

by Sobchak on Jul 9, 2011 4:35 PM PDT up reply actions

I guess I did not check price on my ticket, so you are correct

but, I do not watch it like that. I kind of calculate price of average game included in season tickets, so to me they all have the same price because they are all included in the same ticket package. If they increased $2 per game for all other games, you would end up paying the same total price.

by seattle 13 on Jul 9, 2011 4:50 PM PDT up reply actions

I'm just pointing out that $7 million or whatever in revenue...

…doesn’t mean they can just turn around and spend all of it on Prince Tagoe or another DP. They still need to cover expenses. Like Dave and Jeremiah pointed out the biggest expenses is the ManU guarantee. I’m going to guess they clear a couple million after expenses, but that’s just a WAG.

by Dizzo on Jul 9, 2011 4:29 PM PDT up reply actions