Which South East football clubs have the most cash generative stadiums?
We look at how Brighton & Hove Albion FC, Southampton FC, Reading FC, MK Dons and Portsmouth FC are maximising cash income from their stadiums.
Back in the 90s, the income from broadcasting rights changed the way revenue is earned at the top level in football. Income generated by a team’s home ground can often be overlooked as a solid source of revenue, even in these ever-changing times where sponsorship and online campaigns now reap financial rewards that were previously unavailable or non-existent.
To get an idea of how teams from the South East perform based solely on the income generated from stadium revenue, we spoke to Julie Palmer - Regional Managing Partner for Begbies Traynor Group - to get some insight.
Ticket sales
For those both inside the top level and further down the rungs of the football tables, income from ticket sales is still a major source of revenue - so a full stadium is key to balancing the books. The higher up the table you go, the higher the capacity tends to be - but this isn’t always the case.
“Ticket sales are still important”, Palmer says, “especially as bigger clubs move to ever bigger stadiums, looking to increase capacity. The club that stands out as the poor man of the Premier League is Bournemouth with only a 12,000 capacity. That’s obviously extremely low for a Premier League club and is a challenge for Bournemouth in terms of their income.”
“Brighton benefit from a fairly new stadium, as do Southampton. Southampton have been there around 15 years so that’s still a relatively new stadium. They both have a capacity of around the 30,000 mark.”
Hospitality
Beyond season tickets and matchday tickets, there are other opportunities to be grabbed.
“A big part of a club’s ticket income is corporate boxes. Southampton have been doing it longer so they will be ahead in this area, though Brighton are getting more organised on this front.”
Outside of football and matchdays, the sheer size of stadia makes them the perfect venue for music concerts and other large scale events - and there are various elements that make football clubs more suited to holding gigs and similar events.
“Southampton, because of its location, is more suited to holding non-football events and they hold more music concerts than Brighton. They’re more suited to that given their proximity to the city-centre and parking around the area, beyond the stadium’s parking,” Palmer says.
But it’s not just the Premier League big boys who benefit from this kind of revenue off season.
“In terms of non-Premier League clubs, both Reading and MK Dons are pretty well suited to this kind of use - again given their location and parking. Portsmouth on the other hand, are less so, simply because of where they are based and the ease of getting to Fratton Park.”
Events
When it comes to corporate events, the facilities at football grounds make them the perfect location for corporate entities to host parties and events. Palmer sees one club in particular as leading the way in this area.
“Because of their location, Southampton are well-established for hosting corporate events such as club dinners, facility hire for presentations, large scale parties and the like. So I think Southampton - established for longer as a Premier League club - are ahead in terms of the non-football use of their stadium.”
The days of sponsorship being simply a company name on shirts are long gone, with corporations now owning the rights to stadium names - and Palmer thinks this will only become more prolific as time progresses.
“Naming rights are going to become a bigger issue as time goes on. I think we recognise there’s going to be more of a proliferation of American money in the English game. From that, naming rights issues will flow for English stadiums. There will be names that people might not expect, with cryptocurrency companies being applied to stadium names as well as training grounds and other facilities.”
This is clear when you consider that one of the biggest clubs in the South East - Brighton & Hove Albion FC - has a stadium named after AMEX. Despite this, given their long established name as a Premier League force and the development of so many revenue streams over time, it looks like Southampton and Saint Mary’s lead the way on revenue flowing from their home ground - but Brighton look to be catching up fast.
