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Articles and reports on financial issues within football – soccer – from The Political Economy of Football.
The latest accounts from Sunderland AFC for the 2013-14 financial year show the benefits a smaller club derives from the Premier League television deal. Broadcasting revenue, up from £44.9m to £71.8m was over five times gate revenue at £13.7m up from £12m.
Brazil’s government has intervened for the first time in the chaotic finances of its football clubs through a presidential decree. However, they will have 20 years to pay off the $1.2bn of debt they have accumulated.
The government sees it as a strategy to modernise football. Clubs will not be able to spend more than 70 per cent of their earnings on professional football.
Winning a place in the Champions League is the real prize in the Premier League these days. With Chelsea seemingly champions-elect, all the focus is on which teams will be able to qualify.
The Europa League is not a consolation prize, but more of a punishment. It involves a gruelling season of long trips to little known teams in obscure countries. It has probably held Everton back this season. Southampton fans I know are dreading a trip to Kazakhstan.
The takeover of Crystal Palace by a consortium led by Josh Harris, an American private equity investor, is expected to be approved by the Premier League within the next few days.
The formal change of ownership may not be announced for some weeks, but the parties have been in talks for six months and have built up a good working relationship. The purchase price is thought to be in the region of £100m.
The consortium includes several prominent Wall Street figures, many of whom are involved with the New Jersey Devils, an ice hockey team, and the Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA.
After their win over Queens Park Rangers yesterday, Crystal Palace’s position in the Premier League is effectively secure. The club is being targeted in a takeover bid by top Wall Street investors and a deal could be concluded as early as this week,
The group of investors includes private equity executives from Apollo Global Management and Blackstone. The US consortium is led by Josh Harris, a billionaire who helped found Apollo and David Blitzer, a senior executive at Blackstone.
The exit of Chelsea from the Champions League, and the poor prospects of Arsenal and Manchester City, provides another peg on which critics of the Premier League can hang one of their eloquent denunciations. West Ham’s income is poised to pass that of Inter Milan, but still Premier League teams under perform on the European stage.
David Conn and writers like him have a case to make, but sometimes I think they miss the point of the Premier League. It is as much about creating a televised entertainment spectacle for global consumption as it is about football.
Plans are in place for Bath City to become the next supporter owned club. However, fans need to raise £1.4m to acquire the club, pay off creditors and provide enough working funds for next season. Former chairman Mandy Rigby is owed £170k.
Gabrielle Marcotti is one of the more thought provoking journalists writing about football. In his latest article in The Times, he tells the story of a foreign club who tried to sell a player in England. They were asking for €15m, but were prepared to go as low as €8m.
Then a top Premier League club came in saying the player was their third choice to fill a position. The selling club upped the price to €20m and the potential buyers agreed without hesitation.
The highly impressive Swiss Ramble blog takes an in depth look at Liverpool’s recent accounts with some great graphics and tables. The author confims that the club should not face any financial fair play problems.
Liverpool turned a profit for the first time in seven years, but rank just tenth in terms of pre-tax profits by Premier League clubs. In other words, half the Premier League clubs returned a profit in 2013/14 (and there are still some accounts to come).
Yesterday’s Non-League Paper carried an advert for a chief executive at AFC Fylde. On offer is a £50,000 base salary plus car and benefits. That’s a lot of money for a second tier non-league club, but, as the advert states, ‘AFC Fylde are a highly ambitious club.’