Reports in the Sydney-based paper the Sunday Telegraph have suggested that Manchester United want to bring a side to Australia for a pre-season friendly in July.
The paper’s report states that a senior executive from the club was in Australia last week to discuss the possibility of bringing the world famous Red Devils to Australia as part of next year’s pre-season campaign, where they would potentially play an A-League “All Stars” outfit, similar to recent tours in the United States where they have played the MLS All Stars twice in the last three years.
Melbourne, Brisbane and now Sydney are all vying to bring the club to their respective cities, with Etihad Stadium and the MCG in Melbourne, ANZ Stadium in Sydney and Suncorp Stadium in Sydney have all tabled bids, with the club apparently having decided it wants to tour for four matches over the course of July ahead of the 2013/14 season, with games in both Asia and Australia.
The report states that any game would attract over $12 million in revenue, between ticket sales, television revenue, sponsorship and merchandising, and all of the Victorian, New South Wales and Queensland governments are hoping to land a game to boost tourism.
A senior official from the club is quoted as saying:
“The tour would leave a long-lasting legacy for the development of football in this country,” said one senior official.
“In terms of squad strength, clearly the absence of a major international tournament next year will mean we would be bringing a very strong squad. Barring injuries, we would expect all the leading players to be there.”
Tickets to the game/s would cost between $100 and $300.
You can read the Sunday Telegraph’s full report HERE.
