Leeds United on course for £39.4m PSR boost as paperwork filed
Who saw this coming? ????
Leeds United have a lucrative long-term plan that will improve their PSR position by £39.4m per season.
Even despite their failure to win promotion to the Premier League in 2023-24, Leeds are in a strong position financially.
Red Bull’s acquisition of a minority stake in the West Yorkshire club is perhaps the ultimate endorsement of both their global appeal and their economic position.
Concerns around their Profit and Sustainability position this summer were exaggerated and the club continues to be one of the top club’s in Europe in terms of commercial revenue.
And following the latest official update from Leeds, the club is now in position to eventually smash the club revenue record of £189.7m they set in 2022-23.
Leeds stadium expansion to generate PSR headroom
Leeds issued an official statement earlier this week revealing that they had returned Elland Road to club ownership.
Until recently, Leeds’ home ground was still owned by former owner Andrea Radrizzani‘s Aser Ventures investment vehicle.
Leeds co-owners, the investment arm of the San Francisco 49ers and new minority shareholders Red Bull, are believed to have paid north of £26m to reacquire the 37,890-seater stadium
Significantly, this will allow the club to press on with plans to expand Elland Road to beyond 50,000.
There is no indication of how immediate any upgrades to the stadium would be or how much they would cost, but infrastructure costs are exempt from PSR so would generate headroom for the club in time.
READ MORE LEEDS FINANCE NEWS: Red Bull’s Leeds masterplan laid bare amid latest on record-breaking £40m off-pitch deal
TBR Analysis: How much can Leeds earn from Elland Road?
Leeds generated £29.9m through the turnstiles in 2022-23, the last financial year for which full data is available.
That was a record for the club and that figure will likely have fallen somewhat following their relegation to the Championship at the end of that campaign.
However, using a crude pro-rata calculation, it can be deduced that adding an extra 12,110 seats to Elland Road to take capacity to 50,000, that would mean their matchday income would reach £39.4m.
In reality, Leeds’ matchday income would likely be higher than that because a revamp would likely allow a greater proportion of more lucrative matchday tickets as opposed to season tickets.
As is the case with nearly every contemporary stadium expansion project, there would probably also be more investment in hospitality facilities.
The likes of Bayern Munich earn as much from hospitality as they do from the rest of the stadium.
And while Leeds cannot realistically those kinds of figures, an increased focus on hospitality would be proportionately more money-spinning.
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