Skip to main content

£450m spent on owning a football club

The authoritative Swiss Ramble takes a look at Championship finances. He notes, ' 2017/18 revenue in the Championship was £729m (TV £400m, commercial £177m and match day £152m), but there were hefty £572m operating losses, mainly due to £773m wages (wages to turnover ratio 106%) plus £264m player amortisation/depreciation and £259m other expenses.'

It is clear is that the Championship is a highly unprofitable division – and it is getting worse. Despite revenue growth of just £24m (3%) in 2017/18, wages shot up £113m, while player amortisation/impairment rose £64m, leading to operating losses widening from £400m to £572m.

'Leaving aside any issues with the Championship’s Profitability and Sustainability regulations, a business model where the owner finances a football club’s losses can work fine – right up to the point when the owner stops providing funds for whatever reason. That’s the danger.'

'Amongst other things, this analysis has shown that Championship clubs are only kept afloat by massive funding provided by their owners: £343m in 2017/18 alone. If we add £108m from stadium sales to the owners, they spent a cool £450m for the privilege of owning a football club.'

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wolves get raw deal from FFP

  I used to see a lifelong Wolves fan for lunch once a month.   He was approaching ninety, but still went to games.   Sadly he passed away the other week. As football finance guru Kieran Maguire has noted, Wolves continue to be constrained by financial fair play rules.  Radio 4 this morning described them as this year's 'crisis club' and the pessimists have certainly been piling in. Martin Samuel wrote sympathetically in the Sunday Times yesterday, saying that the Premier League drives talent away with regulatory red tape: 'Why could Al-Hilal sign Neves? Because Wolves needed the money. And why did Wolves need the money? Because the club had to comply with an artificial construct known as financial fair play. So Wolves are going skint, yes? No. There is no suggestion that Wolves are in financial trouble, only that they are failing to meet the rigours of FFP. Wolves’ owners appear to have the money to run the club, and invest in the club, and in fact came up with a pow
Post a Comment
Read more

Gold standard ground boosts Tottenham's income

The gold standard in European football grounds is the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in north London, a £1bn construction project completed in 2019. Its impact on the club’s finances has become increasingly clear as the effects of the pandemic have faded. Previously, the average fan would spend less than £2 inside the ground on a typical match day, but now that figure is about £16, thanks to new facilities including the longest bar in Europe and an on-site microbrewery. Capacity has gone up from 36,000 at the club’s previous home of White Hart Lane to 62,000.  The new stadium — built on land adjacent to White Hart Lane — has opened the door to a broad range of other events that have helped to push commercial income up from €117mn in 2018 to €215mn in 2022. Last year, Tottenham hosted US singer Beyoncé for five nights on her global Renaissance tour, two NFL matches, as well as rugby games and heavyweight boxing bouts.  Money brought in from football has gone up too. Match day income is
Post a Comment
Read more

Charlton takeover approved

The long awaited takeover of Charlton Athletic by SE7 Partners from Thomas Sandgaard has been approved:  https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/se7-partners-obtain-efl-approval-for-charlton-athletic-takeover/ Charlton have had unhappy experiences with owners for over a decade, so how this works out will remain to be seen.  There is certainly potential there, but will it be realised? This interview with Charlie Methven gives detail not available elsewhere:  https://thecharltondossier.com/charlie-methven-on-the-record/
Post a Comment
Read more