Friday, May 24

London Stadium still not a massive moneyspinner

Interesting round up of all the Premier League club's accounts for the 2017-18 season in the Guardian. West Ham made £25m from "match receipts and football related", a figure that is just over a fifth of the £119m made from broadcasting rights. It's a healthy profit from the stadium, but not that much more than clubs made with grounds similar in capacity to Upton Park. Brighton and Southampton both made matchday profits of £19m for example. 

No doubt profits from the London Stadium match receipts will have gone up last season (2018-19) with more Cup games and more £99 Under-16 tickets going up to Under-21 rates. But even so it's a long way from the promised revenue that would take West Ham to the "next level". Now PL clubs are more reliant than ever on TV money. Even clubs like Bournemouth with a 15,000 capacity get their £119m from TV. The London Stadium might help attract a better class of player, but on its own it's not going to lift West Ham into the top six.

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