"The bar's been set in terms of the value of sports teams and football teams in particular as brands."The Glazers bought United for 790 million pounds in 2005, and Joyce said there was plenty of financial incentive for them to sell the club.
"If you look at it from an investment perspective, purely on this side of things, traditionally, private equity companies invest into businesses with the belief that they can generate anywhere between two to four times return on capital," Joyce said. "If you look at what United is likely to be sold for, the Glazers are likely to generate anywhere between six to eight times return on their initial capital, even allowing for the interest payments, dividends and other shareholders involved there.
"We've looked at India and Indonesia as well where there's at least 100 million pounds plus. You then look at factoring in the Middle East, which is greatly untapped but is becoming very emerging with the likes of Ronaldo going there."The key to all of this though is understanding fans and the fact that a fan in the United States wants a very different proposition to the fan that goes to Old Trafford, versus the fan that lives in Dubai for instance," he added.