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Football kit is a fiercely contested global market, not least between Germany’s Adidas and its US challenger Nike. Adidas is the leading brand and is determined to hold on to that status but is in a fight with Nike for market share. The World Cup is a great chance to showcase what they have to offer.
Just when it looked as if Portsmouth were all set to emerge from administration through a CVA, new difficulties have emerged. At one time it looked as if Revenue and Customs (HMRC) were prepared to vote in favour of a CVA as part of a package deal, but now they appear to be taking a different view.
Over the next few days, we will be taking at the economic and financial gains (and losses) from the World Cup. Today we look at Fifa. Subsequent posts will look at the impact on the UK domestic economy and on South Africa, although there the issues are as much to do with politics and prestige as with economics.
The Premier League continued to grow last year despite the recession, showing the resilience of its business model. Premier League clubs’ revenue reached a record £1,981m in 2008/09 and will have exceeded £2 billion in the 2009/10 season, according to the latest Annual Review of Football Finance from the Sport Business Group at Deloitte. The new broadcast contracts will drive a further increase in revenues to £2.2 billion in 2010/11. In total, the Top 92 English clubs’ saw revenues increase by £100m to over £2.5 billion.
Fifty years ago there was a quiz show in which contestants had the choice of taking a sum of money or opening the box. The box might contain a bigger prize than the money being offered or it could be something trivial and worthless. The audience always used to shout ‘Open the box!’ stating a clear preference for risk takers.
In the last year or two many people have seen their wages frozen or had very small increases. Others have actually seen their pay cut. But it’s a different story in the world of football. There has been double digit growth in Premier League wages for the last three years according to the latest Deloitte Annual Review of Football Finance.
Alisher Usmanov has shown that he’s still very much in the running in the battle to acquire Arsenal. He is thought to have spent around £300,000 on shares in the last week which shows that there are still small pockets of shares out there to buy, although they are getting scarcer and more expensive. His latest purchases bring his stake closer to 27 per cent rather than 26 per cent, but Stan Kroenke remains the biggest shareholder.
Royal Bank of Scotland is transforming part of its London office into a virtual football stadium to entertain clients during the World Cup. About 3,000 clients will be invited to watch matches at one of its main offices near the City, although the space will hold only about 350-400 people at any one time.
Like many old jokes, it contains a kernel of truth. How do you get a small fortune? Start with a large one and get involved in running a football club. But there may be human costs as well. The chairman of St.
As we have reported over the last few months, Revenue and Customs has been getting increasingly exasperated with the view of many football clubs that meeting their PAYE and other tax obligations is an optional extra. When clubs go bust, they have been particularly annoyed by the ‘football first’ rule which means that failing football clubs settle ‘football debts’ ahead of all others.