London calling indeed! Three clubs from England’s capital, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Arsenal, went 8-9-10 in order on on Forbes’ annual rich list. They join three more Premier League clubs: Manchester United #2, Liverpool #4 and Manchester City #5, in the top ten.
Of the trio however, only one, Arsenal, competed for major trophies. Let’s get fiscal (not physical) and take a closer look at the financials.
Forbes valued Tottenham at $3.2 billion, or 14% more than last year. Owned by notorious insider trader Joe Lewis and infamous hardball negotiator Daniel Levy, they had an operating income of $161 million.
Meanwhile Chelsea, led by American Todd Boehly (who also owns the L.A. Lakers and L.A. Dodgers), in conjunction with hedge fund Clearlake Capital, only grew their valuation by 1%. They’re worth $3.1 billion, but had an operating income of -$400,000.
A loss? What is going on here? While they spent well over a billion in just two transfer windows, breaking the summer and winter transfer window records along the way.
Finally, Arsenal saw a nice surge of 15% year over year, giving them a valuation of $2.6 billion.
Only three teams in the entire world, (both Manchester clubs and their rivals in North London, Tottenham) had higher operating income of $140 million. So nicely done on that, Silent Stan.
By the way, the numbers cover the 2022-2023 season, with the conversion to the U.S. dollar based on an average of exchange rates during that season (1 euro = $1.05, 1 GBP = $1.21, 1 GBP = 1.15 euro).
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to Ravens Wire, part of the USA Today SMG’s NFL Wire Network and the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and the Washington Times. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.