When Leeds United fans heard the news that Red Bull had bought a stake in the club, some were nervous, others were openly hostile towards the world’s third-most valuable soft drinks company.
They have their reasons, with the most obvious being part of the deal that makes Red Bull a front-of-shirt sponsor next season. Red is not a popular colour in any quarter of Leeds given its association with rivals Manchester United.
There are deeper concerns, though, which have led to the Leeds United Supporters’ Trust seeking assurances from the club that core parts of their identity will not be changed with the arrival of the new investors. The club has been clear in its stance, with United chairman Paraag Marathe telling The Athletic that “this club is and will forever be Leeds United Football Club. It’s not going to be the Leeds Red Bulls”.
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Marathe exclusive: ‘This club will not become Leeds Red Bulls – they understand that’
“Any fundamental changes to Leeds United club’s identity and heritage will receive maximum resistance from our fans, and we will be working closely with football authorities in preparation for any such move by Red Bull,” read a statement from the trust.
“While the club have been open and proactive in stating that no one from Red Bull will sit on the board and there will be no change to the name or logo, this is only a promise while the 49ers maintain complete control of the club.
“Nobody can predict what will happen after the 49ers’ custodianship, so we are taking the opportunity at an early stage to let Red Bull, or any other potential custodians of our club, know that we will not allow any of these fundamental heritage or identity changes to happen to our club.”
Leeds fans’ concerns are not unfounded. Red Bull has a reputation in football which, particularly in Europe, has not always made them popular. The energy drink brand, founded in 1984 by Dietrich Mateschitz and Chaleo Yoovidhya, owns a stable of clubs including New York Red Bulls in MLS, Red Bull Bragantino in Brazil’s Serie A, Red Bull Salzburg in Austria and RB Leipzig in the German Bundesliga.
Emil Forsberg of New York Red Bulls, with the brand emblazoned on his shirt (Ira L Black – Corbis/Getty Images)
In each case, the club’s associations with the company are stamped across every aspect of their identity: in their name, their kit and their shirt sponsors. It also has naming rights to the home grounds of three of its four clubs, all called Red Bull Arena. (It does not do things by half.)
“They want to sell products but they don’t just see the opportunity in that,” says Misha Sher, European Sponsorship Association board member and global head of sport and entertainment at EssenceMediacom. “They have football teams all over the world and there is brand consistency across those teams in strategically important continents. And because they own their teams, they make huge money on player trading by unearthing players, giving them exposure and then selling them on.
“By owning the club, they have also increased the value of their asset because the industry has grown. In the United States, they bought the New York franchise for $30million (£15million at the time) in 2006 and now that team will be valued at hundreds of millions. Not only is this about having teams playing in their kit in their stadium, but it’s also an appreciating asset all the time.
“Some of the best companies in the world never talk about their products. Nike don’t talk about their trainers; they sell an aspiration and how you feel when you wear their gear. Apple is all about the feeling of owning a Mac. It’s about creating a sense of community.
“For Red Bull, they’ve come a long way from the little cars that used to drive around with the can on the back. They’re marketing what it means to be brave, to go for things because it ‘Gives You Wings’.”
you can only try one, which are you picking? 👀 pic.twitter.com/YCpp5kCx9T
— Red Bull (@redbull) May 29, 2024
From motorcycle racing to Formula 1 to BMX and snowboarding, Red Bull began marketing its drinks via sponsorships and events across a range of extreme sports from 1992 onwards. Starting in motorsport as an investor, Red Bull bought the Jaguar Formula 1 team in 2004. Fans of Netflix’s Drive to Survive series will know of Red Bull’s successes, which were built on the idea of being ‘disruptors’ and trying to do things differently. Although Red Bull Racing has spent big, Max Verstappen (top picture, right) and its other drivers have helped reap huge rewards, with six constructors’ championships and seven drivers’ titles.
It has not all been plain sailing, especially in the popularity stakes among rivals after expanding to ownership of a second team in 2005, but politics on the grid cannot take away from their victories. Aside from silverware, F1 has also returned to an Austrian venue called — yes, you guessed it — the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. Perhaps their most important move was recruiting Adrian Newey, F1’s greatest designer, in 2006 from McLaren to kick start their period of dominance. Parallels can be drawn from their football operation: successful and masterminded by leading thinkers.
Red Bull started its footballing enterprise when it bought Austria Salzburg in 2005. “The big problem was that there was a traditional club with a fanbase and their own colour,” says Alexander Huber of the Austrian newspaper Kurier Sport. “It was violet, purple. Red Bull came and, at first, everybody thought it would be a good match. After a short time, it became clear that they were going to change everything — the name, the colour — and the fans had a massive problem with that.
“There was a real cut and all the classic fans said goodbye because they did not feel it was their club any more, so they started a new Austria Salzburg with their club in the eighth tier, the lowest league we have in Austria.
“Red Bull Salzburg was really hated by ultras all over the country. Normal football fans have no aggression any more, they respect what Red Bull has done, especially since Ralf Rangnick came to the club. Between 2006 and 2012, it was like a reality show, everyone thought it was a very expensive hobby for (co-founder) Mateschitz. Nobody was proud of it. Then, with Rangnick, it changed and now the only part of Austrian football who are really strict opponents to them are the ultras.”
Since 2005, Austria Salzburg have climbed to the third tier but still lack a home ground, which has limited further progress. They attract a demographic of fans in the city who prefer the ultra culture, which is not encouraged at Red Bull Salzburg, who have established themselves as a force in Europe and domestically. Between 2014 and 2023, they won 10 consecutive league titles and reached the semi-final of the Europa League in 2018.
After early years of spending big and falling short with Salzburg, the appointment of Rangnick as director of football in 2012 marked the start of the Red Bull identity in football. That style extends to its subsequent acquisitions of RB Leipzig (who Rangnick later managed) — with ‘RB’ standing for ‘RasenBall’ (lawn ball sports) to circumvent German rules on corporate naming of football clubs — and New York Red Bulls, with staff and players often moving between the clubs.
Former Leeds head coach Jesse Marsch worked at three Red Bull clubs before his spell at Elland Road, and ex-Leeds midfielder Tyler Adams went from New York to Leipzig. Midfielder Marcel Sabitzer and defender Dayot Upamecano had stints in Salzburg and Leipzig, a path also trodden by Benjamin Sesko (top picture, left).
Leipzig head coach Ralf Rangnick talks to his players during their match against Salzburg in September 2018 (Robert Michael/AFP via Getty Images)
RB Leipzig, who declined to comment, and Red Bull Salzburg, who did not respond to a request for comment, have central themes to their identity, brought in under Rangnick: a focus on the academy system, a rejection of big-money signings and playing intense, high-pressing football. At Leipzig, season ticket pricing remains low and across the group, clubs are incredibly well-run.
That will do little to shake off the identikit feel, however, which is most strongly opposed in Germany, where the ’50+1′ rule of club ownership is sacred. In principle, 50+1 dictates that a club’s members should hold a majority share of voting rights with a few exceptions. All of Leipzig’s vote-holding members are employees or associates of Red Bull. The club has only existed since 2009 when Red Bull acquired the licence of fifth-tier club SSV Markranstadt before giving them the branding treatment. Their fast progress up the leagues saw them leave behind two local clubs, Lokomotive Leipzig and Chemie Leipzig.
Suspicion of commercialism in German football runs deep and so Leipzig are a version of the future that fans do not want: one in which companies rather than supporters run clubs and the game serves a marketing purpose. Fan protests at Bundesliga games, in some cases where Leipzig are not even playing, are common. Borussia Dortmund fans have boycotted trips to the Red Bull Arena, some Bundesliga clubs refuse to show Leipzig’s logo and Dynamo Dresden fans threw severed bull heads onto the pitch during one game. There is even resistance from within Leipzig’s own fans, with the Rasenballisten group declaring its support of the team but not Red Bull.
Rebranding any trademark aspect of historic clubs is always felt deeply in European football. Where franchises in U.S. sports often change name or location and F1 teams are bought and change colour, name and sponsor regularly, the same rarely happens in football. So Red Bull’s involvement, as successful as it is, is always likely to be met with cynicism. As a marketing tool, however, it works.
Stuttgart fans protest against Leipzig (Jan Woitas/picture alliance via Getty Images)
“They are probably the most innovative (brand),” says Sher. “They have always done things in a way that most other brands don’t have the bravery to do. Red Bull has been like that from the start, what has been most consistent with them is that it has always been about owning the narrative.
“Every other brand sponsors something because they are trying to benefit from the equity of that relationship. That’s not the business that Red Bull are in. Owning their own team and events gives them the freedom to execute things how they want. When you pay someone else you’re one of many partners and you have to do things their way.
“They want people to buy their products but they are capitalising on every way in which the industry is growing. It can be media rights, franchise value, the supply chain of players through their system. They don’t have to rely on other people.”
“In Formula 1, team name changes are just an accepted part of things — it has become a fantastic sponsorship vehicle but it’s not common in football,” says Nigel Currie, a sports marketing consultant.
“Red Bull have been so successful in their sponsorship programmes across so many sports and countries that they have probably become experts in a lot of areas they didn’t expect. They will have found a lot of overlap in ways that they can combine expertise between groups and sports to bring benefits and that’s what they’ll be offering to a club like Leeds.
“They’re a huge global brand and Leeds have the potential to be that. The potential is there for them to get to the Premier League and become a massive global brand.”
Across multiple clubs and sports, the way Red Bull has done things has varied little over the years. Once it is in, it is all in and its presence is clear, loud and unavoidable — but successful.
This is where taking a minority stake in Leeds bucks the trend. Ten years ago, Red Bull denied it was interested in investing in the club when they were owned by Massimo Cellino and rumours have regularly resurfaced linking the two. Under 49ers Enterprises, it has finally become a reality. Leeds have not been the only Red Bull investment this year, with the company becoming named as the sponsor and majority owner of the operating company that runs the BORA-Hansgrohe German road cycling team.
“Normally, Red Bull doesn’t like to negotiate,” says Huber. “They like to do it their way or they don’t negotiate. So Leeds could be a new type of partnership. In sports, we know that when Red Bull starts something, it will be very professional and they won’t care if it’s €1million, €10million or more as an investment — they will only start when it’s perfect. Normally they don’t quit. They only do things for a very long time.”
Red Bull is in a new era following the death of Mateschitz in October 2022 and the subsequent inheriting of the company by his son, Mark. The question is whether Leeds marks a change in strategy or a path to a real presence in English football.
(Top photos: Getty Images)
