The Political Economy of Football V2

The tireless Kieran Maguire has been up early looking at the latest filings at Companies House. Blackburn Rovers parent company Venky’s London publish results for year to 31 March 2019. The whole of the turnover is attributable to Blackburn Rovers. The club lost £20.3 million in year despite promotion to the Championship, which works out as £391k a week. Average income in the Championship is £31.4m, so Rovers are on less than half that, partly due to impact of parachute payments [which have such a distorting effect in the Championship]. The Blackburn wage bill in 2018/19 was the third lowest of the decade, average weekly wage £11,000 a week last season compared to division average of £16,000 a week. At £6.1m media (up from £2.9m in League One) accounted for 41 per cent of income; commercial at £5.2m accounted for 35 per cent; matchday at £3.6m accounted for 24 per cent. Lancs Live comments on the results here: Blackburn Rovers You can read the accounts online at: Venky's Lon...

In an example of a successful fan social media campaign centred on the tag #DonaldOut, Sunderland owner Donald Stewart is actively seeking a buyer for the faltering club with a 'heavy heart': Just how many buyers there are out there at the moment with a number of clubs potentially available is a moot point. The Chinese are no longer big investors so much depends on the Gulf States and the US. Saudi Arabia may, however, be willing to make a move as it seeks to burnish its image. Sunderland are currently 13th in League One, one point ahead of mighty Burton Albion. One can understand the frustration of fans, but it is not always easy for substantial clubs to get out of the third tier.

A sale of AS Roma is imminent, reports the Financial Times from New York. According to the Pink 'Un, the club is set to be acquired for €750m including debt which would be a record for a Serie A team. Growing television revenues provide an incentive to buy clubs. The buyers are a consortium led by US billionaire Daniel Friedkin. His family own the Gulf States Toyota Distributors car dealership and other business interests. He is expected to go ahead with a plan to build a new stadium for AS Roma. A group of US investors bought a controlling stake in the club in 2011, making them the first foreign owners of an Italian club. The existing American investors have become disillusioned about the failure of the local authorities in Rome to upgrade or regrade the Stadio Olimpico shared with local rivals Lazio. They have a poor reputation for failed governance This points to a wider failure, the dysfunctional nature of the Italian political system. One might ask how some economic ...

The authoritative and thorough Swiss Ramble has reviewed the 2018/19 accounts of Stoke City. Despite relegation, Stoke City cut their pre-tax loss from £30m to £15m, even though revenue dropped £57m (45%) from £127m to £71m and profit on player sales fell £4m to £18m, as costs were down £75m. The Swiss Ramble comments from Zurich, 'The £15m loss is obviously not great, though in fairness very few clubs manage to make money in the challenging Championship environment. Worth noting that the highest losses are often reported by the promoted clubs – though these invariably include hefty promotion bonuses.' He adds, 'Following four consecutive years of (small) profits between 2014 and 2017, Stoke have now posted losses two years in a row, adding up to £45m in total (£30m in 2018 and £15m in 2019), though worth noting that £31m of this is from impairment (non-cash) adjustments.' Revenue trends The main reason for Stoke's £57m revenue reduction was broadcasting, whic...

An interesting and in depth account of what has happened to Italian football based on an interview with John Foot, author of the authoritative Calcio: A History of Italian Football : Serie A The article starts by stating: 'In the 1980s and 1990s, Italy’s Serie A was the world’s leading football league. But as financial interests asset-strip once-great clubs and the terraces become home to harshening racist abuse, Italian football no longer looks like such a “beautiful game.”' Of course, others might argue that recent inward investment in the Italian offers more promise for the future.

The Financial Times had a very interesting article yesterday by Bryan Harris about football in Brazil suffering under a debt burden. Yet I think it could have been an even better article if the Pink 'Un had separated out those factors that arose from globalisation and could apply in any country in the Global South and those that were specific to Brazil. The article argues, 'Following years of financial mismanagement and corruption, some of Brazil's biggest clubs are on the brink of collapse' and may not survive 2020. Revenue from TV rights has increased 160 per cent over the past decade, but this has been outpaced by the cumulative debt of the 20 top league teams that has soared to $1.7bn. Some of the patterns that are noted are common to football in general. Some 40 per cent of club revenues come from TV rights - lower than for many Premier League clubs, but still substantial. An increasing portion of revenue comes from player sales, some 24 per cent, which is u...

Comments on social media suggest that some Sky subscribers were not happy to find that Amazon had secured the exclusive rights to the Boxing Day Premier League round of fixtures on the 26th and 27th December, including Liverpool's demolition of Leicester City and the exciting fixture between Wolves and Manchester City which brought the title race to an end. Subscribers thought that the chance to watch Brentford or Hearts was meagre fare in comparison. It was great news for me as I live in a conservation area and am not allowed to have a satellite dish, so I was able to watch live Premier League matches for the first time. One suspects that one 'ain't seen nothing yet' from Amazon as a challenger to BT and Sky. As a company Amazon likes to have a big stake in every area of world commerce, and nothing is more global than football. With Manchester City giving up on the title race, one wonders if Liverpool's procession to the trophy will diminish the interest of th...