Finding the secret sauce that made Real Madrid the world’s most valuable football club
Operating the world’s most valuable football club: Real Madrid are the most valuable football club in the world. Columbia Business School professor Steven Mandis was given “unprecedented access” to every part of the club and, for a BBC Documentary, he got the club to open their doors and their books to outside scrutiny for the first time. Through conversations with fans, players, coaches, and board members, including an in-depth interview with club president Florentino Perez, Mandis looks for answers to questions including: How does an organization co-owned by 92,000 fans operate? How was the club transformed from the brink of bankruptcy 16 years ago? What is the relationship between success on the pitch and off the pitch? What role do values play in the business? What lessons are there for other sports teams and for businesses more widely? The lessons he learns, Mandis says, apply not just to sports teams, “but to organizations in all walks of life” (runtime 26:46).