The Sunday Times magazine carried a long article yesterday on Arsenal including a rare interview with manager Arteta and other key figures at the club. It was clearly a public relations exercise designed to put the club in the best possible light ahead of the new season, fair enough. However, it did contain some interesting statistics and comments for the neutral (I should mention that my stepdaughter and her husband are Gooners).
'Following last season's triumphs, analysts expect a 15 per cent bump [in revenue] for Arsenal, pushing the club beyond £790m. That would place them firmly in the global financial elite ...it would make Arsenal third in the world behind the mighty Real Madrid and Barcelona.' [The actual placing would depend on how much PSG grew their revenue].
The article points out that there are now four Basque managers in the Premier League: Arteta, Emery at Aston Villa, Iraola at Liverpool and Alonso at Chelsea. The Basque population is around three million. Arteta puts this down to a passion for the game, values and education.
Arsenal has global appeal. In the US there are 89 local official,supporters' groups. The club is searched for online in the US 1.89 million times every month, followed by Indonesia at 1.87 million. The UK figure is 4.3 million.
Emirates started sponsoring the club 20 years ago because it had so many fans living in the cities the airline flew to in Asia and Africa. However, 'the club is based firmly in the wealthy metropolitan heartlands of north London. ... The club insists that, for all its global fanbase, its soul remains anchored in the community.'
Commercial revenues have recently been swelled by sponsorship renewals with Adidas and Emirates, a new sleeve sponsorship from the IT company Deel, and a partnership with the Wall Street titan JP Morgan.
Expanding the stadium is being considered but the logistics are complex and it would be expensiive, plus a council buy in would be needed..
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