PREM LOSSES WILL RUN TO TWO BILLION QUID
Premier League boss Masters reveals huge cost of the pandemic to top-flight game
PREMIER LEAGUE chief executive Richard Masters has revealed losses will hit £2BILLION by the end of the season.
That is the staggering cost of the pandemic for top-flight clubs – as this weekend marks a year since football was forced to go into lockdown.
Clubs have repaid a chunk of TV cash and suffered big losses on gate receipts, sponsorship deals and corporate hospitality.
And Masters (right) revealed:
“Towards the end of this season, we’ll get towards £2bn lost since the start of the pandemic in terms of matchday and broadcast revenue.
“We’ve kept the show on the road despite all of this.
“Clubs have continued to invest in competitive matchday squads and also the Premier League has continued to make good its contributions through the pyramid and wider football.
“But I think ramifications are that ultimately if there’s less
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money coming into football, then there’s less money going out in the short term.” Recalling the early days of the pandemic, when it looked as if Liverpool might not be crowned champions despite lording it 25 points clear, Masters (left) added: “Clearly there was a risk that we wouldn’t be able to complete the season.
“If it was a valid season, what you would do with promotion and relegation? “Those were big decisions
that were coming down but thankfully we never had to make them.”
Masters sees cause for optimism regarding the return of fans to stadiums. “The first step is to see that Premier League trophy presented on May 23, hopefully in front of 10,000 fans, somewhere in this country,” he said.
“Beyond that, it’s full stadia, hopefully from the start of next season. We need to unite Premier League clubs around a plan for the future.
“A lot has happened over the last 12 months and next year is the last year of our current financial programme, so we need to set a clear and secure financial plan for the Premier
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League, and therefore the rest of the pyramid, for the next three years.
“If we can get all of that done successfully by the end of this year it will be a good year.
“If you could throw in a successful Champions League win and perhaps even England winning the Euros, that would be even better.”
Addressing the subject of players taking the knee going forward, Masters said discussions will be held with players at the end of the season but insisted he would be “fine” if players chose to stop in the meantime.