By Ian Grant
Arsenal have been named as the seventh richest club in the world in the annual Deloitte survey on football finances.
They earned £99.87m pounds last season, the second richest British club, after Man U on £167m. Chelsea earned £89.32m and are ranked tenth richest in the world.
The importance of Ashburton Grove is highlighted by the fact that Man U earned £67.5m through matchday revenue compared to Arsenal’s £26.7m. The additional revenue from 22,000 + spin offs is one of the reasons why the report’s authors say Arsenal should go into the top five richest clubs.
It has been steady progress, a tribute to Wenger, since the report was first compiled in the 1996/7 season, when Arsenal were ranked 20th. They were eigth last season.
Arsenal gained over half their revenue from broadcasting last year – £49.8m compared to £49.7 for matchday and commercial combined.
The report highlighted that clubs could earn a lot more from their stadia – just the news Arsenal would want to hear.
Dan Jones, Director of the Sports Business Group at Deloitte “At the same time, many of football’s leading clubs have a great, and as yet underused, opportunity to significantly develop other income streams, particularly from their stadia.”
Paul Rawnsley from the Sports Business Group at Deloitte commented: “It has been generally recognised that the game needs to enhance its financial credibility and, to help deal with this, regulation is a growing theme in European football. From the 2004/05 season we’ll see the first stages of the UEFA Club Licensing system in place, including a requirement for clubs to meet certain financial criteria.”
It is interesting that the report highlighted that regulation is an increasing theme in European football.
Some emails to ANR say the wage/transfer cap is pie in the sky, but as ANR said – the winds of changes are afoot in UEFA and Westminster. British MPs suggest a wage cap and the G14 are mooting a voluntary scheme.
If the 60% of income rule was applied, as one scheme being suggested, then Chelsea, for example, would only be allowed £53.4m on transfers/wages per season. Chelsea have spent £134m on transfers alone in seven months – an amount so far out of line with the others, it is enough to bring ridicule to the regulators if allowed to carry on unabated.
Football Income Rich List
1. Manchester United 167.83m (pounds)
2. Juventus 145.75m
3. AC Milan 133.66m
4. Real Madrid 128.5m
5. Bayern Munich 108.6m
6. Inter Milan 108.4m
7. Arsenal 99.87m
8. Liverpool 99.74m
9. Newcastle United 92.73m
10. Chelsea 89.32m