Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
BlyBlyBabes

Europe's fifth richest league. Yep. But we're skint.

Recommended Posts

The Championship has a higher annual turnover (318 m) than, for example, the top leagues in Holland, Portugal and Scotland [see Guardian article below]. But the gap with the Premiership is increasing!   Part of the solution in my view is to market the television rights abroad. They would sell in certain markets if properly packaged, of that I have little doubt.

And we have 25,000 bums on seats every home match, but little money? Pull the other leg. something is wrong.

New riches may lift Premiership also-rans to the fore

Premiership to cash in on overseas television deals

Gulf with Championship will widen, says report


Matt Scott
Thursday May 31, 2007
The Guardian


Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal are likely to see their recent dominance of the Premiership challenged due to the increased purchasing ability of middle-ranking clubs, according to business analysts. Only once since the 2002-03 season has one of those teams failed to finish in the Premiership''s top four, a record that has been put down to the earning potential of the so-called big four, which far outstrips their rivals.

But Dan Jones, the author of the Deloitte Review of Football Finance, predicts their supremacy could be broken as a result of the money flooding into the game. The £2.7bn Premiership clubs will share from broadcast income over the next three years - up nearly 50% on the previous deal - is set to increase still further in future. That gives the English clubs increasing purchasing power over clubs abroad. Last season, the Premier League generated £1.4bn as against Serie A''s £1bn and the third-placed Bundesliga''s £0.8bn (see graphic). As the gap continues to widen, even middle-ranking clubs in England will be able to compete for the top players with the biggest clubs in Europe, giving them more of a chance to contest for top honours at home.



"Everton, Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa and Newcastle United are trying very, very hard to compete in the top four," Jones said. "When you look forward a few years and ask yourself where the growth in the Premiership is going to come from, it''s the overseas television rights. They are divided equally between the clubs and that will help level the playing field. I am not as doom-laden about this being the new order, with the top four there forever. Football, in all its guises, has a habit of surprising you."

The Deloitte report for the 2005-06 season reflects why the top four have been able to dominate their domestic competitors. That year, when Chelsea won their second successive Premiership title, the average revenue of a top-four club was £144m - the other 16 top-flight teams pulled in an average of £50m.

Manchester United were able to spend £85m on wages in 2005-06, Arsenal £83m and Liverpool £69m, compared to Newcastle''s £52m and the £41m spent by Tottenham, who were the sixth-biggest payers. Chelsea''s wage costs were a staggering £114m.

But the Premier League''s new television revenues are expected to alter the competitive balance. Although in absolute terms the top four''s financial dominance will be strengthened by the new deal, with the title winners earning an estimated £20m more from prize money than Manchester United did this season, the effect will be more even in football terms.

Jones expects the Premiership''s aspirants will be able to outspend most Champions League clubs on the continent in terms of wages and transfer fees. This will give them greater strength in depth.

"If there was an auction, it used to be possible for pretty much all the Champions League clubs across Europe to compete for them," Jones said. "But now there are five or six other clubs in the Premiership who have a very good chance of getting someone at what they would consider to be a reasonable price. As we know from the Deloitte European money league, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Milan and - now that they will be back in Serie A - Juventus will always be up there in terms of revenue. But the sixth- or seventh-placed Spanish and Italian teams fall off that scale. There is a big opportunity there for the Premiership clubs."

Though the outlook for the Premiership''s best of the rest appears positive, it seems less so for Championship clubs hoping to break into that group. England''s second-tier division is a hugely successful commodity - with a turnover of £318m, it ranks as Europe''s fifth-richest league, ahead of those in the Netherlands, Portugal and Scotland.

However, the gulf between Championship clubs'' revenues and those of the Premiership are growing. "The gap between the average Premier League and Championship club''s revenue was a record £56m in 2005-06 and is likely to increase to over £70m in 2007-08," says the report. "Even the lowest Premier League club revenue figure is expected to increase to around £45-£50m in 2007-08 [from £35m in 2005-06]."

OTBC

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

You say something is wrong BBB.

We all know what it is. The big boys have hogged all the money. When the Premier League was formed all this was predicted to happen and the predictions are coming true before our eyes.

They said it would eventually have to become a closed league in order to protect the revenue of the larger clubs. We now see that happening. The relegated teams are now getting so much money that they inevitably bounce straight back. In effect there will eventually be 21 top sides with 18 in the Prem and another 3 moving up and down on a rotational basis.

As things now stand, our 25,000 bums on seats are pretty much irrelevant when compared with £50 million in TV money.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
You are slightly missing the point - we may be in the fifth richest

league in europe - but so are all our competitors!  Some of them

are in an even richer league.

While it means players are attracted to our league - there are 23 other

clubs that have the same muscle - so it doen''t help us much.

We are not skint - just skint by the standards of the league.

btw - woo, there is more money in the championship than the SPL - there

are also twice as many clubs!  And some of the scottish clubs are

so skint that £75,000 is an offer they can''t afford to refuse!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The Times also states that there are eleven teams in the Championship with debts of £10M plus, so I guess we''re not alone.

However, skint means you are unable to pay your debts and we''re certainly able to do that, unlike Leeds Utd. [;)]

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It''s all relative surely though.  If we are in the fifth richest league then it stands to reason that transfer fees, player wages etc will reflect that and be higher than most.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I feel the Football League are missing out on big TV money.

Looking at the success and support of the Championship, we should be receiving a lot more money than we do.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I agree with alot that''s written on here but would add the following _

The numbers of "bums on seats" doesn''t matter anymore. You have £25,000 regulars and we have 35,000, soon to be 60,000 in our new stadium at West Ham. Clubs don''t need people to turn up at the ground, when they are getting huge amounts of money from merchandising all over the world, money from Sky, advertising revenue, corporate hospitality and huge buyouts. You and I pal, are surplus to requirements and only bring in a fraction of the club''s profits.

I think that the Championship is getting better and better. Some people I know, prefer watching it because you don''t know who''s going to win, unlike the big four in the Premiership. Championship crowds are up and so is the quality of football. - But,

The amount of money paid by the above is the reason for the gap increasing. Championship clubs cannot compete. At WHU, (finishing just out of the relegation zone), we have just agreed to buy Scott Parker, for around £8m and wages of £72,000 per week! Very few Championship clubs could pay that kind of money to a whole squad. Unless you get a sugar daddy with billions, you can never compete. 

If I was a championship club Chairman, I would put all  my resources into having an excellent academy,  with brilliant talent spotters too. The way forward for clubs like Norwich is to get ''em in young, coach them and sell them on at a big profit.

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

appyammer/handy wrote the following.

The amount of money paid by the above is the reason for the gap increasing. Championship clubs cannot compete. At WHU, (finishing just out of the relegation zone), we have just agreed to buy Scott Parker, for around £8m and wages of £72,000 per week! Very few Championship clubs could pay that kind of money to a whole squad. Unless you get a sugar daddy with billions, you can never compete. 

If I was a championship club Chairman, I would put all  my resources into having an excellent academy,  with brilliant talent spotters too. The way forward for clubs like Norwich is to get ''em in young, coach them and sell them on at a big profit.

 

So. Like you lot - if we get a sugar daddy we can compete. Ipso facto.

And if you lot lose your sugar daddy you''ll have to resort to developing youngsters like Joe Cole, Lampard, Carrick, Ferdinand R. etc, selling them at a big profit - and then getting relegated again.

Thus. As I understand it. You lot can have/deserve a sugar daddy (why? Because you poor sods are in London or .........what?), but we can''t have/don''t deserve because......?

[:S][:-*]

OTBC

 

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

i hope i am right but the point of the original post is that the championship is underselling itself, at the moment we are relying on left overs from the prem but if we where to have confidence in our product and sell it correctly we could start seeing some of the money the prem is getting, thats my take any way, might be a bit naive but after watching the playoffs they where the best games i have seen for years and the championship is now starting to come on fox over here in oz so if we can get the right deal i think the product is actually better than what we think and might even be better than the prem, it might be a chance to break the strangle hold of the top clubs and open the game we love back up again by taking the big guys on at there own game, as much as i hate all things corperate it seems you have to compete or you die, we have to fight to get our game back, great post bbb

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

[quote user="chipster"]i hope i am right but the point of the original post is that the championship is underselling itself, at the moment we are relying on left overs from the prem but if we where to have confidence in our product and sell it correctly we could start seeing some of the money the prem is getting, thats my take any way, might be a bit naive but after watching the playoffs they where the best games i have seen for years and the championship is now starting to come on fox over here in oz so if we can get the right deal i think the product is actually better than what we think and might even be better than the prem, it might be a chance to break the strangle hold of the top clubs and open the game we love back up again by taking the big guys on at there own game, as much as i hate all things corperate it seems you have to compete or you die, we have to fight to get our game back, great post bbb[/quote]

Yes, Chipster you are dead right about the main point of the original post. Thanks.

I agree with you 100%.

Would love further details of what you are seeing of the Championhsip in Oz.

Anybody else outside the UK getting playoffs or Championship matches live/delayed?

I think I heard something about Setanta (an Irish/American satellite outfit) and the imminent end of Sky Sports monopoly coverage outside UK. Anybody else heard of this?? Will have to research it.

OTBC

 

 

 

 

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

A couple of years ago they showed one championship game every saturday, that lasted for about 2 years (acctually recorded a few games with norwich).
The same channel is now showing women football.......

Another channel (canal+) shows almost every Premier League game of the season.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="BlyBlyBabes"]

[quote user="chipster"]i hope i am right but the point of the original post is that the championship is underselling itself, at the moment we are relying on left overs from the prem but if we where to have confidence in our product and sell it correctly we could start seeing some of the money the prem is getting, thats my take any way, might be a bit naive but after watching the playoffs they where the best games i have seen for years and the championship is now starting to come on fox over here in oz so if we can get the right deal i think the product is actually better than what we think and might even be better than the prem, it might be a chance to break the strangle hold of the top clubs and open the game we love back up again by taking the big guys on at there own game, as much as i hate all things corperate it seems you have to compete or you die, we have to fight to get our game back, great post bbb[/quote]

Yes, Chipster you are dead right about the main point of the original post. Thanks.

I agree with you 100%.

Would love further details of what you are seeing of the Championhsip in Oz.

Anybody else outside the UK getting playoffs or Championship matches live/delayed?

I think I heard something about Setanta (an Irish/American satellite outfit) and the imminent end of Sky Sports monopoly coverage outside UK. Anybody else heard of this?? Will have to research it.

OTBC

Where I am in Oz you get 1 game per week (during the bulk of the season) shown live, and repeated. It tends to be either the Friday night game or a Sunday game. Norwich were on once, we lost to the binners, Biringham (my girl''s team) were on about 6 times.

Its to serve the ex-pat community though. I really don''t see a market for much more Championship over here, or anywhere else. Most countries that import the ''EPL'' want to see the big four clubs and aren''t interested in Villa vs Middlesburgh let alone Colchester vs Luton.

Setanta and Sky jointly hold the contract for the new TV deal. The EU said Sky couldn''t have a monopoly, so now Setanta are in as well having won the bid. Hence the new huge package for the Premiership thats widening the gulf between them and everyone else.

 

 

 

[/quote]

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...