With the health crisis, Manchester City received Chelsea in an empty stadium on May 8, 2021. – Javier Garcia / BPI // SIPA
The coronavirus has hurt the finances of Premier League clubs. Their cumulative income before tax fell by one billion pounds (more than 1.16 billion euros) for the 2019-2020 season, according to figures from the firm Deloitte.
“The drop in income for the 2019-2020 season is, unsurprisingly, due to the global economic and social disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic,” explains Dan Jones, of the audit firm Deloitte. This is the biggest drop in history for the 20 Premier League clubs, whose overall pre-tax income fell by around 13%. However, even with this record decline, clubs in Europe’s most publicized soccer league made a cumulative profit of 4.5 billion pounds (or around 5.2 billion euros) during the 2019-20 season.
The financial impact will last
The absence of the supporters, and therefore of the main commercial revenues such as ticketing or the sale of shirts, “the postponement of matches and the discounts granted to broadcasters had a significant impact on the revenues that the clubs were able to generate”, affirms Dan Jones. He further believes that “the total financial impact of the pandemic on the Premier League will depend on when supporters return in numbers to the stadiums and the clubs’ ability to maintain and develop their business relationships, especially at some point in time. where many other sectors are suffering ”.
Club accounts are not yet ready to no longer suffer the consequences of the coronavirus. For Dan Jones, this “Covid season” “will indeed continue to have a heavy impact on the financial results of the 2020-2021 season when they become available”. The absence of the public should, according to the analyst, “be reflected more in the financial results for the 2020-2021 fiscal year” which took place almost entirely behind closed doors, or with a very small number of spectators in the rooms. stages.