Is The English Premier League Still A Financial Giant?
The English Premier League has been at the top of the financial rankings with regards to football competitions not just in Europe, but around the world. The rights to televise the league’s matches live provide untold riches and many of their clubs are also institutions in football itself. Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal are amongst some of the most recognisable clubs from England.
It was common for Premier League clubs to have extremely good attendance figures and to get good results in European football tournaments. Gate revenue and merchandise sales would also be ringing the tills with greater regularity due to this. These would add on to the revenue generated by television rights to watch English Premier League live and provide clubs with even more financial muscle to sign the best players, which then continued to drive further success.
It would seem that the league was getting richer and richer without end. However, the new ranking list of the most financially successful European clubs does not seem to show this. The first and second placed teams are not from the Premier League but other European leagues. Not even Chelsea nor Manchester City are considered amongst the leading clubs with the greatest wealth generated according to the rankings. Arsenal and Manchester City managed to buck the downward trend by seeing their names moving a few notches up the rankings. The new leaders in ranking are the Spanish La Liga top two, Barcelona and Real Madrid, whose rise has given to many opinions that English football might now be falling from grace.
Can we really say that the end of English football might be upon us due to their lack of authority in the money rankings? There must be accompanied with it, a thorough analysis and investigation of the current state of the different Premier League clubs who are part of the equation. Are revenues seeing drastic drops for the clubs and thus affecting their performances in other areas?
One would need to consider the new ownership changes that have been part of the changing Premier League landscape recently. Chelsea and Manchester are two examples of clubs who have switched to foreign owners while being handled like business entities with many interests outside of football. A popular move by several new owners involved transferring debts from other business entities onto their clubs. It is not likely that the clubs suffered a corresponding drop in revenue from other areas.
Unfortunately, the debts on the clubs’ accounts incur huge interest payments which has to come from the revenue collected by the clubs, thereby restricting their ability to expand unlike in the past. So while the clubs might enjoy increasing revenue, this increase might still fall behind the huge interest payments that are the result of the debt holdings on account. This is thus hidden from the view of most onlookers who do not go beyond the money rankings.
It is not every English Premier League club that has had to deal with debt woes. One Premier League club that continues to buck the trend and stays in the black has been Arsenal. Excellent positive turnover is part of the club, while results have stayed strong on the field allied by different commercial arrangements like EPL live soccer which are less risky compared to other projects that some clubs might undertake. Another interesting fact is that while Manchester United have huge debts on their books, the club is a merchandise machine that produces revenue that is probably the most in the Premier League.
The speculation that the Premier League might therefore be on the brink of financial disaster is therefore unfounded from just these few points. If the clubs can continue to produce strong revenue, the admittedly dangerous risk in undertaking of debt might still be sufficiently managed. If they continue to produce positive results in various competitions, the possibilities of growing their profits and club brands would increase in the long run.
Comments are closed.