PREMIER LEAGUE clubs are staring at a potential £1billion black hole if League chiefs are forced to annul the season.
The astonishing financial cost explains why the majority of clubs and the Premier League still want to play out the season to a conclusion if possible.
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But the admission by Brighton chief executive Paul Barber that such a plan might prove to be unrealistic, if the extent of the coronavirus continues to spread for the coming months, heightens the genuine crisis facing Prem clubs.
All 20 sides are at risk of being asked to repay around £20m in advanced TV money they have already received for the final quarter of the campaign.
But that is just the beginning of the cash hit that is confronting the clubs if the season cannot be recommenced and played to a finish.
Prem bosses privately accept there is minimal chance of the league restarting after this month’s now-scrapped international break.
The April 4 restart date is almost certain to be put back, initially to later in the month.
Government health experts have suggested the peak of the virus outbreak may not be reached for 14 weeks.
That would be the middle of June, which is the last point at which the season could be restarted and completed.
But with players having been off the pitch for more than three months, match fitness would be a factor to be taken into account, rendering the prospect of a cancellation more likely to enable next season to begin on or near schedule. And that would have huge knock-on effects.
Match-day revenues for home games range from around £6m for clubs like Tottenham and Manchester United, to the estimated £250,000 earned by Bournemouth.
But if the remaining 92 games left to be completed this season did not get paid, that would add up to around £270m in lost revenue across the 20 clubs.
And if the season is not finished, then the £403m in “merit payments” based on league positions, which would range from £38.4m for the champions to £1.9m for the bottom-placed team, would also not be due.
That adds up to £1.037bn in cash that would no longer drop into club coffers, while they still have to meet wage bills of around £1.4bn per year.
Former Liverpool and Spurs sporting director Damien Comolli warned: “Sky and BT have already paid their TV money to Premier League clubs — but they could both say they want their money back proportionally if the season is not completed.
“So maybe the top-six clubs can reimburse TV money. But how can smaller clubs, like Bournemouth, who have a high wage list but a stadium capacity of 12,000, reimburse TV money and pay their players?”
Clubs have yet to make any announcements on potential reimbursement of season ticket payments for games that seem increasingly unlikely to take place.
Comolli added: “Clubs like Arsenal and United can cope with it on a game-by-game basis because they are among the ten richest clubs in the world.
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“But can they reimburse people for season tickets? Clubs are going to struggle significantly.”
Things will be even worse lower down the food chain and football finance expert Kieran Maguire predicted: “For the League One and League Two clubs, we are probably talking in the region of £300,000 to £400,000 in lost income until the end of the season. The main issue for those clubs is cash flow.
“Even if matches are only postponed, we have a three-week gap for certain, so how will clubs pay wages and their suppliers? Many clubs are going to struggle significantly.
“They are surviving on a match-to-match basis and are reliant on the loyal few thousand turning up.”
The consequences of an annulment would be a flood of potential legal cases against the League from clubs who believe they have been treated unfairly.
Rochdale chief executive David Bottomley admits cancelling the season because of the coronavirus outbreak could be “disastrous” for some English Football League clubs.
He said: “It’s very worrying for any industry that relies on people paying to come and watch it for the majority of its income.”
Brighton chief Paul Barber (left) believes expanding next season’s Premier League to 22 teams will resolve the coronavirus crisisCredit: Getty Images – Getty
And Bottomley also revealed that only the £1m sale of teenage star Luke Matheson to Wolves has saved his club from financial ruin.
He added: “We’re fortunate because of things that have happened recently like the sale of a player.
“But we need that income at some stage. We couldn’t possibly, as a football club, write off.
“If they cancelled the season now, that would have a disastrous effect on our finances because we’ve got six home games to come.”
Tranmere stand to lose £300k from the coronavirus-inflicted break.
Owner Mark Palios — whose club Tranmere are third bottom of League One — said: “Each match will cost us £35,000 plus the money from the food and beverage.
“If you can play the games you get revenues. Everybody in the game and fans want to the competition completed.
The remainder of the Premier League is in serious doubt with concerns from a number of club executives over the integrity of the competition and their players’ safetyCredit: AP:Associated Press
“The real problem is cash flow. It’s a difficult landscape around lower leagues. People are living hand to mouth. It’s the thick end of £300,000 if we don’t play home games here.”
Meanwhile, chairman of National League side Dover Athletic, Jim Parmenter, claimed clubs down the pyramid will “go bust” if competitions are suspended.
He said: “I am on the National League board and got 35 emails from clubs in the National League structure saying, whatever you do, you must keep playing otherwise we’re going to go bust.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
