Sunderland show Premiership cash does count

Jun 3 2009 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

SUNDERLAND football club has demonstrated the financial clout the Premiership brings after seeing annual turnover more than double to over £63m during its first year in the top flight.

Accounts just published by the club also saw its losses shrink from £13.6m, in the year it was promoted from the Championship, to £2.2m in its first year back in the Premiership – the 2007-2008 season.

SAFC also saw TV revenue increase by 450% to £35.6m, sponsorship revenue double to £8.2m and gate receipts rise by 51% to £13.6m.

The figures graphically highlight the financial difficulties near neighbour Newcastle United now faces after being relegated to the Championship last month. Football finance expert Professor Tom Cannon, of Buckingham Business School, said the results demonstrate the dramatic difference the two divisions can make to a football club’s finances.

But he issued a note of caution to exuberant Sunderland fans when he questioned the financial muscle of the club’s new owner Ellis Short.

“There is not a gap anymore between the Championship and the Premiership – there is a chasm,” he said.

“It is incredibly simple. If you’re in the Premiership you pocket at least £30m more in television money. Then there is the additional sponsorship income and the additional gate money. A club’s income can increase threefold moving from the Championship into the Premiership.”

The accounts also highlight that the shareholders, who at the time were the Irish-based consortium Drumaville, were owed £36.6m by their trading division the Sunderland Association Football Club Limited. In August last year American businessman Ellis Short purchased 30% of the shares from Drumaville, and last month he purchased the rest.