Tottenham Hotspur managed to salvage their season last week when they lifted the Europa League trophy, securing lucrative Champions League football in the process.
A 1-0 success over Manchester United in Bilbao managed to book what had appeared to be an unlikely slot in European football’s top tier club knockout competition for next season given the dismal nature of the domestic campaign, where Spurs finished the season one place above the drop zone.
But success in Spain has given Spurs access to a prize fund worth up to £120m next season, and guaranteed them revenues of some £60m when including the four home games that they will at least get to host for sell-out crowds at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The win has changed what Spurs are able to do in the market, not least from a cashflow point of view with the club’s weighty transfer debt (£337m) and limited amount coming in in terms of transfer receivables (£58m) meaning that they would have had to player trade this summer, even though they have little to be concerned about when it comes to profit and sustainability rules headroom.
The revenues on offer next season will be impactful, but it won’t be completely transformational for Spurs given that their dire performance in the Premier League this season means that they are some £34m back on where they were this time 12 months ago.
In 2023/24 Spurs finished fifth. For that they received £164.6m in central payments from the Premier League.
The financial success of the Premier League is built largely on the enormous TV deal that they have in place both domestically and internationally, worth £12bn over four years. Much of that sum is is filtered down to clubs through equal share payments from both markets, merit payments from both markets based upon where they finish the season, commercial revenue and facilities fees, which is how many times clubs feature in live TV broadcasts from the three UK broadcasters, which are Sky Sports, TNT Sports and Amazon Prime Video.
Last year, Spurs featured 28 times, the joint third-highest alongside Manchester City and Manchester United. This past year it has been 24 times, three times less than Aston Villa and behind seven teams.
Facilities fees fell by £3.3m to £21.1m for the year, but the drop in merit payments is significant, falling to £11.4m from £45.1m, a drop of £33.7m. The equal share from the international market is to jump around £2m, so with that accounted for the past season’s struggles in the Premier League have cost Spurs around £34m year-on-year.
That loss already eats into what Spurs have got coming from the Champions League next season, although it does fall in the current financial year. It will be budgeted for longer term, though, and that means that the club may have to be a little more mindful in the market than if they were to be heading into it having secured the same league placing as last year, with Newcastle United having taken that spot this year and earned Champions League qualification from a stronger position.
But Spurs chairman Daniel Levy, who still has a significant decision to make on the future of head coach Ange Postecoglou, will know that the club will need a stronger squad and better recruitment for next season, which will require investment. That means that effective player trading to support that may still have to be brought into operation in order to maximise the opportunities given that the club are starting further back from last season in terms of the cash drop it has coming from the Premier League.
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