Speaker 1: Tom, on what basis do you pick your sponsorship partners?

Speaker 2: We cast a fairly wide net, but there are some consistent patterns. There are clearly a number of categories of business where sports is a natural fit. But these days, I think there's been a recognition that sports works. Not only is it the ultimate reality TV, but it's a great way to engage a consumer or to engage somebody that's running a business. So there's 50, 60, 70 categories of businesses that are using sports effectively. So we start by looking at those categories and the leading businesses in those categories to find potential partners that we might have a conversation with, learn about what they are looking to achieve, and hopefully get far enough that we can come back and bring some solutions.

Speaker 1: How far do you want to go with sponsorship? Should everything in the stadium be sponsored?

Speaker 2: Probably not. But I think there's a bit of an art to it. Ultimately, we're looking to achieve the objective that the sponsor has. Sponsors have all different objectives. Sponsorship is no longer just about a name on a shirt or a sign in the stadium, but those can also be important. But ultimately, we're progressing to more complex business objectives, more subtle business objectives often, or helping a partner to position themselves.

Speaker 1: Do you get a sense that picking a sponsor is now a lot easier? You can afford to be a lot more selective?

Speaker 2: I think we're always looking to be selective. But most importantly, we're looking to connect and partner with companies who have business objectives that we can tackle, who have an alignment of culture, of purpose, and this is what we look for. And then we just look at the very best businesses in each of those categories.

Speaker 1: And you're also very much global now. What does it mean for your partnerships? Do they have to be global too, or do you look for local partners?

Speaker 2: We have partners like Nissan, or Nexentire, or Etihad, or SAP, who are with all of our clubs and have a global ambition and global activation. And we have others like Mundi Pharma, who's focused just on Southeast Asia, a few countries in a football-rich part of the world, 600 million people in Southeast Asia, and we're helping them with a very specific consumer healthcare product there.

Speaker 1: What about China? Are we going to see more partnerships in that part of the world?

Speaker 2: China's a fascinating place, along with the United States, which is also growing incredibly with the sport of football. China has, from the top down, decided that football is extremely important. So there's a huge appetite at the moment, which is great for us. We've opened in Shanghai, and our whole ethos in China is helping the national initiative around football. This presents a great opportunity for our clubs, for Manchester City and our other clubs, as well as our partners, to be a part of that journey and to add value. So having a city-branded club in China is definitely part of our future.

Speaker 1: Let's talk a little bit about your social media presence. Just some interesting stats. You've got more than three million Instagram followers, 82 million video views on YouTube, and 105 million video views on Facebook. How crucial is this presence for you?

Speaker 2: It's very important. Our opportunity is to be part of their daily lives and to bring their passion point, their football club, into their breakfast, their lunch, their dinner, and to bring them stories about our players, things that are happening in the game in fun and dynamic ways. Sometimes these are short-form videos, sometimes it's information and insights, but our ability to do this and localize it for our fans is a big opportunity for us, and there's a huge appetite for it.

Speaker 1: Before I let you go, how is the football experience going to look like in, let's say, 10 to 15 years? Are people still going to come to the stadium and watch the games here, or is everything going to happen through virtual reality?

Speaker 2: It will be both, both and. So for sure the best way to experience a football match is live and in an arena, but not everyone can get here. We have to continue to work hard to make this environment better and better and better for our fans who come on a match day, but we're very fortunate to have hundreds of millions of fans around the world, and our opportunity to improve their experience is also there. So virtual reality will improve, what you can do on your mobile device will improve, and the stadium experience, and I think everything will grow if we get it right.

Speaker 1: Tom Glick, thank you very much.

Speaker 2: Thank you very much.

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