Although the twenty clubs that make up the Premier League are making plenty of money - £2,100,000,000 in 2010, to be exact - the vast majority of the clubs are spending all of that income and then some. In fact, the fifteen teams to make a loss this season managed to spend a total of almost half a billion pounds more than they made between them, which is an immensely scary figure. Only Wolverhampton managed anything approaching a large, sustainable profit (Arsenal's earnings involved the redevelopment of their former ground at Highbury), bringing in £9M in their debut season
Record Losses For Premier League Clubs In 2010
The Guardian is reporting that 68% of the clubs' income goes straight back out via their wage bills, which also covers amortised transfer fees. With Premier League teams spending between £30M (Wolves) and £174M (Chelsea) on wages last season, it's no real surprise that the number is high, but £1.4B between the twenty teams seems faintly ludicrous.
What is clear is that the system is unsustainable without either a lowering of costs or propping the clubs up with external money. While UEFA are pushing for the former option, the Premier League seems happy for now to rely on the latter. The way top-flight football is run in England seems to be about sucking money in and knowing that the product is always going to be popular enough to find more willing ‘investors’, but this is a bubble - and one day it has to pop, doesn’t it?
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