Here is your Matchday Money article for gameweek 21, where we will estimate the matchday gate receipts taken at all premier league games this week. We will compare the revenue generated between teams and compare their strategy for maximising matchday revenue.
The revenue is calculated based on an average of the highest and lowest prices offered to club members for each match. This amount is then multiplied by the number of tickets available for sale which for home teams is attendance less away ticket allocation and season tickets sold. Away teams is simply the away ticket allocation multiplied by the away ticket price. A separate article will analyse the season ticket revenue taken by each club.
The away allocation differs from game to game with it up to negotiation between the clubs. The lower of 10% of stadium capacity or 3,000 seats must be offered to away teams on each matchday, however this is not always taken up as clubs analyse the demand for the game among their fans and choose accordingly.
Here are the matchday results for gameweek 21:
Bournemouth 2 – 1 Everton
Chelsea 5 – 0 Stoke
Huddersfield 0 – 0 Burnley
Liverpool 2 – 1 Leicester
Newcastle 0 – 0 Brighton
Watford 1 – 2 Swansea
Manchester United 0 – 0 Southampton
Crystal Palace 0 – 0 Manchester City
West Brom 1 – 1 Arsenal
Gameweek 20 Analysis
Huddersfield led the way in stadium capacity percentage with an unmatched 99.9% of the stadium filled as 24,095 fans flocked to their crucial game against Burnley, although they may have been disappointed in the scoreline. They were closely followed by Chelsea and Newcastle who both achieved attendance of over 99.5%. Unsurprisingly, Manchester United’s attendance of 75,051 was the highest by a distance with rivals Liverpool’s attendance of 53,226 a far second.
Watford and Bournemouth lagged the other teams in terms of stadium capacity %. Both teams are not in the best of form which may explain the lowly turnout, something that will worry those in charge. The lack of fans had an adverse effect on Watford who conceded a lead late on to lose, however no such effect was felt by Bournemouth against Everton. Bournemouth, who already have the lowest stadium capacity by a distance, cannot afford low attendance which will weaken their matchday takings even further.
Despite languishing far behind in second, Liverpool achieved the highest matchday takings by a distance of over £1.2m with both Chelsea and Manchester United taking around £800k. As mentioned previously, clubs have to balance the prospect of higher takings on matchday and the sale of season tickets, Manchester United have a much higher number of season tickets on offer than Liverpool, hence the larger matchday takings. An article on season tickets will follow in due course.
Liverpool’s season ticket sales of 25,000 also allow them to benefit from more expensive matchday tickets. Manchester United, Chelsea and Newcastle complete the top 4 this week with Manchester United’s lower due to the 55,000 season tickets sold. These amounts are more secure, so there is always a trade off between the guaranteed selling of season tickets and the potential for empty seats on matchday.
Huddersfield and West Brom both had low takings due to offering the lowest average ticket price at £30 for adults.
Bournemouth’s 11,360 seat stadium, combined with season ticket sales of 7,000 mean their takings from games are low, something that will be a common theme across this series. Their matchday takings were so low this week, that Leicester, Arsenal, Manchester City and Burnley all had higher takings, despite playing away! This does not take into account food etc. brought on the day.
There was some variance this week among away matchday revenue with Leicester and Manchester City leading the way while Stoke and Everton lagged the group.
Everton’s low matchday takings can be explained by the obvious low allocation given by Bournemouth due to their small stadium, meaning Everton were allocated only 1,305 tickets.
Stoke were away to Chelsea so have no such excuse, however the club may have gauged demand for the trip down south and as such, requested a smaller allocation of only 1,464 tickets.
Leicester and Manchester City were allocated 2,887 and 2,607 tickets respectively, leading to their high figures. Arsenal are the only club to always offer £26 away tickets, leading to a slightly lower matchday revenue for away games, however they do have the most expensive home tickets.
Thats it for this week’s matchday money article – any feedback would be greatly appreciated as we continue to refine the formula to get as accurate a read on matchday takings.
