The return of Arsenal as a force in the Premier League has led to two consecutive UEFA Champions League qualifications, soon to be three.
Having returned to the top table of European football’s elite knockout club competition for 2023/24 for the first time since the 2016/17 campaign, Arsenal have benefited from the additional lucrative revenue that comes with participation, but also borne the cost of success through bonus payments to players.
On Wednesday, Arsenal published their accounts for the 2023/24 financial year, a year that covered a second-place Premier League finish and a quarter-final berth in the Champions League.
The figures showed revenue was up 32% to £616million, with wages outpacing revenue growth with a rise of 40% to £328million on the way to a pre-tax loss of £17.7million. Much of the rise was linked to bonus payments due to players for Champions League qualification, although the staff headcount increased by over 100 also, which was impactful.
The financials were positive for Arsenal, particularly given that the club had overtaken Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea to sit seventh in the Deloitte Football Money League last month.
But the growth of revenue that has supported the growth of other areas of the business has been enabled by the qualification for the Champions League, something which has now become even more valuable to the club that will become apparent when the next set of results arrive for the current 2024/25 financial year in 12 months time. The Gunners have earned around £77million from the competition thus far in its new expanded format, with more prize money on offer to clubs, not to mention more games in the league phase to bump up matchday revenue.
Another bumper year is anticipated for Arsenal in the current period, especially given that player trading profits, which stood at £51million for 2023/24, will likely continue to be healthy due to the inclusion of the sales of Emile Smith-Rowe and Eddie Nketiah, both academy graduates, for big money that will represent pure profit on the books.
Unlike clubs such as Manchester United, Arsenal have no concerns around the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules, nor do they have reason to be concerned about flying under UEFA’s squad cost ratio, which allows for clubs to spend 70% of their total revenue on players, wages and agents fees from 2025/26. At present the ratio is 90% for the 2023/24 financial year, down to 80% for 2024/25 and 70% for 2025/26.
Arsenal will be anticipating even stronger revenues from next season, as well as a potential reduction in the wage bill due to the likes of Jorginho, Thomas Partey and Kieran Tierney potentially leaving at the end of their deals this summer.
The club’s strong commercial performance should also be instructive when it comes to the direction of travel for the football club, with the Emirates extension and Sobha Realty naming rights deal for the training ground impactful. Further success on the pitch for Arsenal has come at a time when the importance of brand awareness have never been greater, and with the decision to create a new division to sell sponsorship rights across the Kroenke Sports and Entertainment business, with the division led by Arsenal director Olly Dale, there is likely to be further growth in the £218.3million commercial sum for 2023/24, which was up from £169.3million the year before.
Arsenal are primed for real growth, although they will be aware that some of the additional wealth arriving into the club might need to be taken into account when it comes to making the Emirates Stadium experience better, and more financially beneficial. They are, though, in rude health compared to many of their rivals.
Join the football.london Arsenal WhatsApp channel
Join our Arsenal WhatsApp channel and get all the latest breaking news, opinion, podcasts and in-depth stories from football.london’s dedicated Arsenal writers straight to your phone!
By following this free service you will be the first to know the news from the Emirates Stadium as it happens, when it happens.
To join our dedicated Arsenal channel, all you have to do is click this link and you can join thousands of others following our Gunners coverage!
If you’re curious, you can check out our privacy policy here.
