The 20 EPL clubs collectively lost close to $800M (all figures U.S.) last year "despite making record income," according to an analysis of clubs' accounts cited by David Conn of the GUARDIAN. In the '09-10 FY, the clubs currently in the EPL had total revenues of $3.4B, "principally from their billion-pound TV deals and the world's most expensive tickets." However, the EPL's total wage bill during that time was $2.3B, an average of $113M per club, "accounting for an average 68% of the clubs' income." Sixteen of the 20 clubs "made losses, totalling a record" $784M, and the same number "relied on funding from their wealthy owners." Among the four clubs that avoided making losses, "only one, Wolverhampton Wanderers, did so by making a substantial, convincing profit." Conn notes under UEFA's financial fair-play rules, clubs "will be permitted to record losses" of only $65M combined "over the three seasons from 2011-12 to 2013-14, and cannot rely on owners' subsides, if UEFA is to sanction their participation in European competitions." All clubs in the top seven of the EPL last year "made substantial losses except Arsenal, whose record income" of $618M and profit of $91M were "swollen" by $253M made by development at the site of their former Arsenal Stadium. Manchester City posted the biggest loss, as Owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan "put his dynastic oil millions into bankrolling" a $196M deficit "from signing and paying the galatic wages of players who could lead City to trophies." Manchester United recorded $463M in revenue, "more than any other club if Arsenal's property income is discounted -- yet the costs and interest on the debts the Glazer family have loaded on to the club, pushed United into a losing" $128M. Conn notes Chelsea "made the next biggest loss" at $126M (GUARDIAN, 5/19).
CALL FOR SANITY: In London, Henry Winter reports Wolverhampton Chair Steve Morgan "believes that Premier League clubs are committing 'financial hara-kiri' by bankrolling bloated squads through debt or owners' largesse." Morgan: "We expect to be positive again this year. We were one of the few Premier League clubs that were profitable last year, we don't have any borrowings, we have cash in the bank. We have tried to manage this as a proper business and I wish other clubs would do the same." Winter notes Morgan "wants some financial sanity in the English game, starting with a salary cap." Morgan: "A salary cap would be a sensible step in the right direction as a percentage of revenue. Is it too much of an ask that clubs are run fiscally correct? I do shake my head sometimes when I hear what certain chairmen and directors say should happen in football with salary control and look what they do? The opposite" (London TELEGRAPH, 5/19).
