It is likely that in 2013 UEFA will implement a new set of fair play rules. UEFA will stipulate clubs to be more self-sufficient. The result will be that clubs with the largest revenues will be able to spend the most money. This has been seen, in many ways, as a fair system and will prevent rich owners from dramatically changing the face of a domestic football league.
This has been seen in England in the last ten years with the extravagant spending by Chelsea and Manchester City. Roman Abramovich and Sheikh Mansour are among the richest men in the world and have had a dramatic effect on English football.
What I want to look at here is the revenue stream of Tottenham. Why is revenue important? It is that figure that will dictate how much money clubs will be able to spend in the future.
2010
Total Revenue (£m)
1
R. Madrid
438.6
2
Barcelona
398.1
3
Man Utd.
349.8
4
Bayern
323
5
Arsenal
274.1
6
Chelsea
255.9
7
Milan
235.8
8
Liverpool
225.3
9
Inter
224.8
10
Juventus
205
11
Man City
152.8
12
Tottenham
146.3
13
Hamburg
146.2
14
Lyon
146.1
15
Marseille
141.1
16
Schalke
139.8
17
Atlético
124.5
18
Roma
122.7
19
Stuttgart
114.8
20
Aston Villa
109.4
[divider]
In 2010, Tottenham were ranked 12th in the Money League. This is a rise from 2009, were they were ranked 15th. Tottenham secure high revenue streams in 2010, despite not playing in the Champions League for the 2009/10 season. With this in mind, Tottenham are likely to see their revenue increase even more in 2011 due to the large match-day income and broadcasting revenue that being in the Champions League provides.
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However, Tottenham’s main limitation will be the size of White Hart Lane. At 36,240 Tottenham have one of the smallest grounds of any club in the Money League. This puts a serious restraint on match-day income.
2010
Match-day
£m/home game
Average
£/attendee
(pos.)
revenue (£m)
attendance
1
R. Madrid
128.1
–
74,894
–
2
Man United
122.4
3.6
74,304
48
3
Arsenal
114.7
3.5
59,765
59
4
Barcelona
97.8
–
77,913
–
5
Chelsea
82.1
2.4
41,422
58
6
Bayern Mun.
66.7
2.7
68,853
25
7
Liverpool
52.4
1.6
42,863
37
8
Hamburger
49.3
1.9
55,240
29
9
Tottenham
44.9
1.5
36,240
41
[divider]
Tottenham may feature in the top 10, but make less than half the money of the highest ranking teams. Tottenham is able to earn more than German clubs who have big crowds but not able to compete with the biggest clubs from Spain and England because they cannot house as much corporate hospitality or the sheer number of supporters. This is because there grounds were built before such emphasis was given to this stream of income.
However, due to the £/attendee of supporters in England, clubs like Chelsea, Liverpool at Tottenham still make more on match-days than German sides Borussia Dortmund, Schalke 04 and Hamburger. These teams all have stadiums capable of holding more people and average attendances of 73,097, 61,361 and 54,744 respectively. But still do not make as much as the top English clubs.
Interestingly enough, Tottenham may finish outside the top 4 this year in the Premier League and consequently not play Champions League football in the season 2011/12. This would the revenue from the expected figure in 2011, but would not have a dramatic impact on Tottenham’s standing as one of Europe’s top 20 clubs.
Even though Tottenham sit at 12th there is a huge gap between their revenue and the highest English club, Manchester United. If Tottenham continue to finish in the top 4 of the Premier League and play regular Champions League football they will begin to reduce this gap slightly, but the progress of Tottenham’s financial plans will rely heavily on the development of their stadium.
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