The stadium and match day income

A look at match day income reveals why we need a new stadium, quite apart from all the associated benefits.

Club Stadiums
1   Manchester United 76,100
2   Arsenal 60,432
3   Newcastle United 52,401
4   Sunderland 49,000
5   Manchester City 48,000
6   Liverpool 45,362
7   Aston Villa 42,785
8   Chelsea 41,623
9   Everton 40,569
10 Sheffield Wednesday (Championship) 39,812
11 Leeds United (Championship) 39,700
12 Tottenham Hotspur 36,274

If you take the income figures (below) at face value then we seem to be doing rather well with match day income, however when you look at Manchester United or Arsenal then you see they easily have double our income. Therefore if a high percentage of income comes from match day income then we must be doing poorly elsewhere, given our lower overall income.

We have a small stadium. Our match day revenue rose by £3.7 million, a 9% increase to £43.9 million. Manchester City £47 million moved past us during 2013/14. Without a new stadium growth is very restricted. We have only the 11th highest attendance in the Premier League.and our waiting list currently stands at over 45,000. A stadium with around 61,000 capacity is required whether we build that in one go or build a stadium that can be increased in size at a later date. The plans submitted are for 56,000 but I have heard we would like 61,000.

Club - Match Day Income Figure - % of Total Income Figure from Match Day Income 
Real Madrid 95 million 21% Match Day Income
Manchester United 108 million 25% Match Day Income
Bayern Munich 74 million 18% Match Day Income
Barcelona 98 million 24% Match Day Income
Paris Saint-Germain 53 million 13% Match Day Income
Manchester City 47 million 14% Match Day Income
Chelsea 71 million 22% Match Day Income
Arsenal 100 million 33% Match Day Income
Liverpool 51 million 20% Match Day Income
Juventus 34 million 15% Match Day Income
Borussia Dortmund 47 million 21% Match Day Income
AC Milan 21 million 10% Match Day Income
Tottenham Hotspur 44 million 24% Match Day Income
Schalke 04 - 34 million 19% Match Day Income

The larger clubs financially in the Premier League show far less income than us. We appear a lot on TV because we are an audience pull and many of our games are on a Sunday. We would arguably be on TV less if we were not in Europe and our TV revenue would decrease as a result, making commercial income and income from match days even more important. Do we really need to give sides that help to close the gap with us.

Club (Country) - Total Income Figure - % from Match Day Income
19 Newcastle United 26 million 20% Match Day Income
20 Everton 19 million 16% Match Day Income
21 West Ham United 19 million 17% Match Day Income
22 Aston Villa 13 million 12% Match Day Income
25 Southampton 17 million 16% Match Day Income
27 Sunderland 16 million 15% Match Day Income
29 Swansea City 9 million 9% Match Day Income
30 Stoke City 8 million 8% Match Day Income

Daniel Levy points out the smallness of our stadium compared with our European rivals.

“We cannot stress strongly enough how critical the new stadium is over the long term. We have the smallest capacity stadium of any club in the top 20 clubs in Europe, let alone the current top-four Premier League clubs, and given we now operate within UEFA Financial Fair Play rules, an increased capacity stadium and associated revenues is fundamental to supporting the future ambitions and consistent achievement at the top of the game.”

With 6 sides sharing a stadium, there are at least 96 teams playing in a stadium larger than ours at the moment. Addressing that should double our match day income to around the £88 million figure mark perhaps. With our income at 181 million being 75 million lower than Liverpool's 256 million, the 5th richest club in the Premier League, a £44 million jump in income would go a long way to bridging that gap. We would still be 75 million behind Arsenal in 4th, their income being £300 million.

Their are some supporters who don't want us to leave White Hart Lane for a year, they want us to take longer to build the stadium and play to a reduced capacity thereby reducing our income for the longest possible period. When we are trying to bridge a financial gap that approach doesn't make any sense.

We await further news this summer and if Daniel Levy can pull off a deal with the NFL, then commercial income goes up and commercial deals with Tottenham become attractive with the potential to market to the lucrative American target.

It also increases our exposure in the States, itself a growing football market. As a team we have to maximise exposure and gather new supporters before other clubs do. The architects have been asked to draw up further plans and we have applied for planning permission for a 72,000 seater stadium. Personally I have no doubt that is to accommodate an American NFL franchise based in London to expand the game. A London based team is a stated aim of the NFL governing body.

This larger capacity would be achieved by building the stadium and adding further capacity at a later date, that is at least the general census of opinion. Tottenham themselves are staying tight lipped for the moment so nothing has been confirmed..

The stadium can't come soon enough.

If you have not caught the other articles surrounding Daniel levy ans Spurs undoubted progress you can find them below (all open in a new window).

The realities of football, Europe
Levy vs The Unknown, a further delve into Tottenham
The future is bright, the future is Levy
Levy has raised Spurs fans expectations
Are you a Spurs supporter or a Spurs follower?

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