You may be better off calling your bookie instead of your broker. With Germany's Bayern Munich next in line to follow rival Borussia Dortmund and Italy's AS Roma onto the stock market, industry experts say buy the shares out of love because the economics don't always make sense. I can't make a fundamental analysis of that,'' said Alastair Duffy, a European fund manager with Aegon Asset Management in Edinburgh. Professional investors find it hard to back a sector with rising expenses and limited revenue growth, where teams must constantly balance the often conflicting goals of attracting the pricey stars who can win games, and turning a profit. But player salaries are climbing exponentially and for teams that lack global brand recognition and can't expand into lucrative markets in Asia or the U.S., revenues can't keep pace.
Clubs already play an exhausting schedule, so adding games risks player injuries.
Television rights soared after a mammoth 1.1 billion pound English Premier League deal with British Sky Broadcasting, but there is no guarantee they will pay much more than that when the three-year contract expires. And with the exception of globally known teams like Spain's Real Madrid or Britain's Manchester United, few clubs can sell merchandise outside of soccer-saturated Europe. Perhaps most unsettling for would-be investors, winning may not be enough to sustain profitable growth or propel the shares. The more you spend on players, the more likely you are to win on the field.'' Scottish premier league champions Celtic has seen its stock tumble 46 percent since the start of the season and English premier league winner Manchester United's shares are down 49 percent since last August when they kicked off the season just ended. In an ominous sign for German champion and IPO hopeful Bayern Munich, rival Borussia Dortmund's third-place finish was not enough to help its shares.