PREMIER LEAGUE clubs stand to lose hundreds of millions of pounds if the 2020/21 season goes ahead behind closed doors.
While the English top-flight is well known for making a fortune from television rights, a large slice of several sides’ income still comes from matchday revenue.
⚠️ Read our coronavirus in sport live blog for the latest news & updates
Naturally, it is the larger clubs who stand to lose more with Manchester United leading the way on £110million banked every season from ticket sales and other matchday earners.
Following closely behind are Arsenal with their latest accounts revealing matchday revenue of £96m across the course of the 2018/19 season.
On Friday, the Premier League held a video conference to update each club on the latest plans for restarting the 2019/20 campaign.
Sides have been deprived of the vast majority of their income since the game’s shutdown in mid-March and are plotting a return to training later this month, before a kick-off in June.
Fans will not be able to attend matches for the rest of this campaign, due to be completed by late July at select neutral venues, but there are fears for next season too.
The decision will lie with Boris Johnson’s Government and its attitude towards mass gatherings and large-scale events.
Many expect such occasions to be off the table until December, although that ban may end up reaching next summer.
It is thought only a vaccine will be enough to reintroduce mass gatherings across the United Kingdom and there is no concrete date for that breakthrough – with estimates ranging from six months to two years.
That would leave clubs throughout the football pyramid vitally out of pocket, with Premier League teams combining to take approximately £679m on matchdays over the course of a season.
The latest accounts for some top-flight sides date back to the 2017/18 season with newly-promoted teams’ figures certain to have risen considerably from their latest numbers.
Matchday income at leaders Liverpool in 2018/19 was £81m, with the figure £67m for Chelsea and £57m at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium.
Figures for Tottenham are harder to judge with the North London outfit’s 2018/19 accounts revealing £82m worth of revenue but most of that season was played at Wembley Stadium.
Further down the Premier League, it is evident a number of teams are hardly reliant on ticket sales with Bournemouth’s £135m turnover featuring just £5m of matchday cash from their 11,329-seater Vitality Stadium.
Coronavirus: how long it will take to make a vaccine for Covid-19
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
