Over half of Manchester City's revenues now commercial

The authoritative Swiss Ramble analyses Manchester City's 2019/20 accounts from his Zurich base.

The main driver of the £57m revenue reduction was broadcasting, which fell £63m (25%) from £253m to £190m, while match day dropped £13m (24%) from £55m to £42m. This was partially offset by commercial rising £19m (9%) from £227m to £246m.

The loss of £125m is obviously not great, but all clubs have been adversely impacted by COVID with no fewer than 9 in the Premier League posting losses above £50m to date in 2019/20. That said, only Everton have reported a larger loss than City with £140m.

The Swiss Ramble's rough estimate is that COVID resulted in £61m reduction to club revenue, split between £30m lost (match day £17m, TV rebates £13m) and £31m broadcasting deferred to 2020/21. Without this, revenue would have been £539m (similar to prior year), but would still have lost £64m.

Although player sales are still not as high at City as many other clubs (e.g. Chelesa £475m since 2015), they have become increasingly important, averaging £38m in last four years. This season will include big money sale of Leroy Sané to Bayern Munich plus Nicolas Otamendi to Benfica.

Despite the decrease in 2019/20, revenue has still grown by £87m (22%) in the last four years, largely due to commercial £68m, though broadcasting is also up £29m. Thanks to TV rebate and revenue deferral, commercial is now the largest revenue stream with 51%.

City have the second highest commercial income in England, having narrowed the gap to Manchester United to just £33m. United’s commercial engine has stalled, hovering at around £275m.

Champions League has been a nice little earner for the club with an impressive €390m received in the last five years, the highest of any English club. City earned (estimated) £87m (€99m) from Europe after reaching Champions League quarter-finals, the highest of all English representatives in Europe.

The wage bill shot up £36m (11%) from £315m to £351m, due to a combination of new signings and contract extensions. This means that wages have increased by £154m (58%) in the last 4 years, comfortably the highest growth of the Big Six. Following this increase, City’s £351m wages are once again the highest in the Premier League, for the first time since 2013. In fact, this is the highest ever wage bill reported in England.

Thee wages to turnover ratio worsened from 59% to 73%, the club’s highest since 2013, though this was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 revenue reductions. In fairness, even this reported number is not too bad, being around mid-table in the Premier League.

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

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

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/

The Political Economy of Football V2

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