It seems like paradox, how could it be possible for a team to win and lose at the same time? The Chelsea Premier League football club managed to accomplish this strange paradox last season after winning the Premier League and the FA Cup.
Chelsea managed to lose $113.7 million last season despite the club’s dominance on the pitch. The club announced its financial results yesterday for the year ending last June 30, and the club said revenue increased by 1.2 percent to $330 million but that a reduction in the value of its roster was the main reason for the loss.
The results did indicate that the club was cash positive with a surplus of $6.1 million in comparison to a loss of $27.1 million for the previous season.
The club’s financial results will definitely be under scrutiny by UEFA. UEFA has made it clear that it will ban clubs from its European competitions, including the Champions League, from 2012 forward, if they go into debt on football-related business.
Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay is far from panic mode. Gourlay stated “The reduction in operating losses and increased sales in 2009-10 shows that we are moving in the right direction, especially when viewed against the difficult macroeconomic environment…The club is in a strong position to meet the challenges of UEFA ‘financial fair play’ initiatives, which will be relevant to the financial statements to be released in early 2013.”
It’s a crazy world in the EPL. It’s hard to imagine on this side of the pond, an NFL team winning everything there is to win, including the Super Bowl and still losing money. Someone wouldn’t have their job for very long, and sadly it would probably be the cheerleaders that get cut first.
