The Premier League is Closing in on a Bonkers Milestone

“Manchester United F.C.” Licensed Under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Professional sports franchises have never been worth more money. Franchise valuations have skyrocketed over the past decade or so. The Premier League is no exception. How could it be? It’s one of the most popular leagues in the world, for a sport that’s a global pastime. 

At the same time, it can be difficult to understand just how meteoric and lucrative Premier League clubs have become. It is best contextualized in raw dollar amounts. To that end, the Premier League is closing in on a truly absurd milestone: Its first-ever club valued at over $7 billion (£5.9 billion). 

The team on the verge of crossing that threshold is Manchester United. That will come as…no surprise. Sure, the dollar amount might. After all, $7 billion-plus is a lot! No football club is worth that much as of this writing. But if a Premier League club is going to eclipse that line, it’d certainly be Manchester United. As an exhaustive soccer betting review from MyTopSportsbooks notes, Manchester United isn’t just the most popular Premier League team. It’s one of the most popular clubs in the world–across all sports.

When Will Manchester United Be Worth $7 Billion?

Check your watch or phone for the date and time. Manchester United may already be worth $7 billion.

Yes, it can happen that quickly. The Red Devils were already so close. According to Forbes’ ranking of the most valuable sports franchises, United was worth a projected $6.6 billion (£5.6 billion) as of December 2025. Given the annualized growth in valuations we see for individual franchises, clearing the $400 million necessary to hit $7 billion may be a certified guarantee.

Indeed, Manchester United is working off just 1 percent year-over-year growth between 2024 and 2025. But these valuations ebb and flow. More critically, we see annualized increases from the world’s other most popular franchises routinely cross double digits. Manchester is always a candidate to receive that type of bump. 

Brand recognition helps a ton in their case. It isn’t just the likes of Marcus Rashford, Carlos Casimiro and Bruno Fernandes on the roster. Manchester United is a flagship football franchise. If they were an NFL team, they would be the Dallas Cowboys. If they were an NBA team, they would be the Los Angeles Lakers…on steroids. 

This ubiquity drives up valuations by virtue of increased revenue from gate attendance, sponsorship deals, sports betting partnerships, merchandise sales, and perhaps most notably, broadcast rights.

Live sports joints awards shows as basically the lone enduring sources of appointment-viewing programming. The rise of streaming services has contributed to on-demand watching habits, and a saturation of things to consume. People are watching different shows and movies, at different times, across different platforms. They aren’t all gathering in one space to catch the season finale of Popular Show X. Not as frequently, anyway.

The unpredictability, and unrepeatability, of live sports is unique. People feel the need to watch it live. They want to experience what’s happening in real-time, because they know so many others are, and because they know watching later or consuming highlights and post-match analysis just doesn’t hit the same note. 

Now scale that inherent power to a team like Manchester United, and a league like the EPL. You’re talking about big-time money. Bonkers money. 

To wit: Live domestic and global broadcasting revenue for the Premier League surpass $12 billion (£10.1 billion) on a per-year basis. There is already a bidding war taking place over which companies carry the broadcast rights next. We may be a year or two away from $12 billion (£10.1 billion) climbing to $15 billion (£12.6 billion). And that’s just the broadcast rights. It doesn’t factor in United’s other revenue streams. 

Will Manchester United be the First Football Club to Clear a $7 Billion Valuation

Crossing the $7 billion benchmark is nothing new for NBA and NFL franchises. It’s become standard practice for Formula 1 racing teams as well. It remains a relatively novel concept in football. No club entered 2025 projected to be valued at $7 billionStill, Manchester United came fairly close.And Real Madrid came closer.The La Liga superpower had a valuation of $6.75 billion (£5.7 billion) in December 2025. If the franchises continue to grow at their current rates, Manchester United isn’t beating Real Madrid to the punch.On the other hand, it’s not impossible. If United finishes the season in a way that locks in a 10 percent annualized growth, they could annihilate the $105 million gap separating them from Real Madrid.Not that it matters. Not in the grand scheme of things anyway. While it’d be cool to be the first football to leapfrog a $7 billion valuation, hitting that mark at all is beyond insane. And it’s all the proof we need to reinforce that, despite its way-back roots, football remains a growth sport.Oh, and who knows, Manchester United might just be the first football franchise to clear a $10 billion (£5.4 billion) worth. Because as of now, that’s the direction in which overall club valuations are headed.