The Money is Rolling In
English clubs have been flushed with investment from all across the globe over the past decade. As of mid 2016, more than 57 per cent of clubs in the top two tiers of English football were under foreign ownership.
Well known clubs such as Chelsea and Manchester United have had foreign ownership for many years now and this investment can be attributed to their stunning successes locally and abroad. More so in the case of Chelsea with Roman Abramovich said to have invested over $1.6 billion (yes, billion) in into the club interest free. It is a staggering amount of money to invest and as Abramovich led the way, many, many others have followed.
Only three of the current Premier League teams have retained English-only ownership with the rest mainly a mix of Middle East, American and Asian investors.
The biggest move now is coming from China. As you well know, millions are being poured into Chinese Football but that money has also stretched across the oceans to England. Just last year, a Chinese investment company purchased a 13% stake in City Football Group who owns Manchester City along with numerous other teams around the globe.
This is easy to see as only a decade a go, China boasted just 20 billionaires. Figures released recently now show that number to be 596. That equates to an extra billionaire a week over the past decade.
No doubt though that the international TV revenue and record profits the Premier League clubs are raking in are motivators for the investors to come. For the 2014/15 season, prior to the new TV rights agreement, 17 of the 20 clubs turned a profit which totalled $889m on revenues of $5.37b according to Deloitte. The TV revenue alone in the Premier League is a minimum of $100m even if you finish on the bottom of the table.
We are even seeing clubs in the Championship receive large investments with investors hoping to push the club's to the heights of the Premier League. Wolverhampton, Aston Villa, Fulham, Nottingham Forest and Leeds United are some famous names that no longer have financial ties with England and are seeking a return to the top tier of English football.
The most recent club to be linked with foreign ownership is Portsmouth. (For those interested, Pompey are currently running around in League 2). They are a unique case though, due to the fact that the club's supporters currently hold ownership of the club after their disastrous free-fall since the 2009/10 season.
The rumours have it that former Walt Disney CEO Michael Eisner is the man behind the bid with the club surely going for a cheap price given their current situation.
So what does this mean long-term for the English sides? As mentioned earlier, sustained investment from the likes of Abramovich and the Glazer family, means that teams have become more commericalised than ever before. United are said to have established around 70 commercial deals since the Glazer family took over at Old Trafford thus offsetting the large amount of debt they took on to purchase them in the first place.
Record shirt and stadium deals have followed for most of the top sides and we are even seeing the majority of Premier League teams flying to different corners of the globe (albeit where their majority owners originate from). The two biggest markets in the world are key for their commercial success - USA and Asia. All of the top teams have ventured to Asia for pre-season tournaments over the past few years, playing in front of sell out crowds, which in turn has been boosting their marketing profile and potential.
That marketing potential was realised last year with the Premier League signing a deal with Chinese video streaming service PPTV, which could net the Premier League up to $912m - the biggest overseas TV rights deal the Premier League has ever seen.
One can only wonder that the investment, mainly from China will continue with many craving the success of their counterparts.
*All sums shown are in AUD