Menu
Finance

Owning Aston Villa Costly For Randy Lerner Since His $95M Takeover In '06

They "say every cloud has a silver lining but that doesn’t seem to be the case" for EPL side Aston Villa Owner Randy Lerner and the team's fans, according to Bobby McMahon of FORBES. And as poor as Villa has "been on the pitch the financial performance of the club has been just as wretched." Former NFL Cleveland Browns owner Lerner bought Aston Villa in Nov. '06. He paid $95M and "assumed responsibility for another $24M of debt." Since then the club has "racked up after tax losses of $356M which works out at over $100,000 per day." Under Lerner’s ownership, Aston Villa has recorded "nine straight years of after tax losses and has cemented its position as nothing more than a relegation-fodder" over the last five seasons. During the Lerner era, Martin O’Neill is the only Aston Villa manager to "win more games than he lost." Just like "many other Premier League clubs, wages ballooned in the hope that investment would break the glass ceiling" of sixth position. From '08 to '09 wages increased from $72M to $101M (+40%) and since then wages have not dropped below $99M per year. Last year alone, "wages increased dramatically" from $99M in '14 to $119M (+20%). The "poor on-field performance has resonated with the fans" and the average attendance has dropped by 13% or over 5,500 spectators per game since the "heady days" of the '07-08 season. Lerner decided to hang a "for sale" sign on the club in May '14 and placed a price tag of around $290M on the club. Since then "there have been periodic rumors of potential buyers but nothing has reached the stage of a serious offer." Relegation will "place downward pressure on the price" given that Villa will miss out on the new TV rights deal that would have guaranteed the club another 50% to 60% in media revenue (FORBES, 3/13).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Global/Issues/2016/03/15/Finance/Lerner-Aston-Villa.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Global/Issues/2016/03/15/Finance/Lerner-Aston-Villa.aspx

CLOSE