The Glazers, Manchester United and the Buccaneers

The Glazer family have owned the Tampa Bay Buccaneers since 1995 and Manchester United since 2005. Running two major sports teams on either side of the Atlantic has led fans of both clubs to accuse the family of favouring the other, and the way each club was bought helps explain why.

The Glazers bought United for around £790 million in 2005 through a leveraged buyout, with much of the price borrowed and the debt then placed on the club itself. By 2010, reports put United's debt at around £700 million, while the Buccaneers carried around $95 million. At that point it was Buccaneers fans who complained. The team had been in the top half of the NFL for player spending every season from 2000 to 2004 but dropped into the bottom half after the United takeover, leading to claims that the NFL side was being squeezed to support the family's investment in England. In later years the complaint came mainly from United fans, who pointed to money leaving the club to service debt while the Buccaneers went on to win the Super Bowl in 2021.

The two clubs sit under very different rules. The NFL requires a controlling owner to hold at least 30% of a team, limits each team to 25 owners and caps how much debt a club can carry, so a takeover funded like the Glazers' purchase of United would not be possible there. The Premier League had no equivalent restriction in 2005, but its Owners' and Directors' Test was revised in 2023 to add an Acquisition Leverage Test, which effectively prevents debt-funded takeovers of this kind. When Sir Jim Ratcliffe bought his stake in United in 2024, the deal was funded entirely with equity.

The way each club was financed has shaped its fortunes for decades. With the Acquisition Leverage Test, English football has moved closer to the stricter approach the NFL has taken for years.