Skip to main content

Premier League could face big income losses

FA chairman Greg Clarke has told the Premier League that he does not think the domestic season can be completed, reports The Times. Losses for the Premier League could amount to £750m or £375m per club. Broadcasters around the world pay £3bn for Premier League rights and £1.5bn to Uefa for the Champions League. The top performing English clubs earn around £70m from the Champions League.

Sky and BT face pressure to offer subscribers refunds if matches are cancelled. If that happened, they would seek to recoup the cost from the Premier League.

The losses are so great that playing matches behind closed doors could be a means of meeting television contracts at least in part.

Manchester United, the biggest earners from gate receipts, would stand to lose £10m if their remaining matches did not take place. Arsenal, with four home matches left, would lose £10m. The losses would be influenced by how season ticket holders would be refunded, most likely a discount on next season.

EFL television income is small by comparison at £119m a year, but can help lower league clubs to survive.

Football finance guru Kieran Maguire commented: 'Two thirds of the clubs in the EFL are losing money, and therefore are reliant on owner contributions on a regular basis. My concern now is the owners might be reluctant to pay the money across. Also many of the owners are local businessmen who are running their own companies and themselves will be suffering financial distress as a result of Covid-19. They might be struggling to pay their regular staff because they have lost orders.'

Football clubs in Scotland rely far more heavily on gate receipts that clubs elsewhere in Europe, with 43 per cent of average income predicated on getting supporters through the gate.

Nick De Marco QC of Blackstone Chambers discusses some of the complicated legal issues such as force majeure here: Sport law, frustration and force majeure

He comments: 'The only certainty in these most uncertain times is that Covid-19 is likely to generate a plethora of future legal disputes which will shape our legal landscape, especially in the world of sport.'

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