KPMG's sports team's new Football Benchmark database shows that "you can't win the Champions League unless you lash out" at least €200M ($227M) in wages, according to Paul Nicholson of INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL. The database figures show all Champions League winners since '11-12 had total staff costs in excess of €200M, with this year's winner Barcelona having total wage costs of almost €250M in '13-14 and projecting to spend more than €270M ($306M) in '14-15. The "cost of failing to make the final is high." The Benchmark research shows that three out of the four Champions League semifinalists in the '14-15 season were already spending more than €200M on total staff costs in '13-14. The analysis found that it "is possible to have success in domestic leagues" with a spend of less than €200M on wages. But the "cost threshold for Champions League glory is higher" as Barcelona proved this season and Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Chelsea proved in the previous three seasons with total staff costs in excess of €200M in the season of their Champions League success (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 6/17).
