How football club owners make money?

A club owner has the power to determine the future of the club as he is one of the most powerful person there. He takes the decision of how much to invest and also other financial stuff.

Now Barcelona are in a huge crisis. They were forced to leave their greatest player, Leonel Messi. Apart from the Covid issue, some wrong decisions from Josep Maria Bartomeu (Barcelona ex-president) are one of the reasons behind Barcelona's problem. 

On the other hand, Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovic has completely changed the fortunes of the West London club for the better. He knows where to invest. His investments in buying top football talent, and as well as acquiring the services of top soccer coaches have transformed the Blues from a midtable club to genuine title contenders, both domestically in England and Europe. 

Of course, being a club chairman is not a charitable venture as the owner would want to gain something out of his significant financial outlays in the club. Here are some ways club chairmen make money.    

Increased Value of Shares 

Most European sides are integrated into the financial market systems across the continent. When a club does well, qualifies for important competitions and wins trophies the stock price of that club goes up. Someone like Abramovich mentioned earlier will definitely be earning a lot through the Chelsea share price that would have increased in value from when he first bought the club.  

Leveraging football with existing business 

You will find a lot of football club owners are businessmen in their own right, managing various companies here and there. Sometimes in order to grow their other investments club chairmen leverage on the popularity and large numbers their club will attract to market their business, which guarantees more exposure and profit for their main business. 

The late Leicester City chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha was the owner of King Power, a string of duty-free shops. The association of the business with Leicester City especially after they won the English Premier League would have rubbed off positively on King Power. Leading to increased profits for the business and inevitably the owner.

Sheikh Mansour acquired Manchester City football club in 2008 from the former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. That deal gave his company, the Abu Dhabi United Group, increased profits.

Sale of Assets/Club

The owner can also make good money from sales of club assets or the entire club itself. Former Chelsea owner Ken Bates made a huge amount of money when he sold Chelsea to Roman in 2003 for 18 million pounds compared to 1 pound the amount he bought the club for in the past.

Improved profitability 

This explanation is pretty simple. If the football club is making good money year in year out from merchandise, commercial deals, and ticket sales, the profitability of the club will increase, which will mean better pay for the club chairman. In 2011, Qatar Sports Investments bought Paris Saint-Germain.  Nasser al-Khelaifi, a Qatari businessman was elected as its chairman. He has completed transformed the club by attracting big stars such as Neymar, Ibrahimovic, Cavani, Sergio Ramos and Kylian Mbappe to the club and as well as winning 13 football trophies. This has increased the profits for PSG, and their owner.