Up the Villa! Premier League promotion to bring £170m boost

Aston Villa is forecast to receive a £170m boost over the next three years after completing a remarkable return to the Premier League.

Fans of the football club thought their chance of Premier League football had disappeared for several years last summer after a play-off final defeat led to a cash crisis that briefly threatened to end in administration.

But a takeover by Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris and Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Wes Edens in July and a managerial change – bringing in Dean Smith to replace Steve Bruce – in October was the catalyst for a promotion charge.

10 consecutive league wins in March and April helped the club finished fifth and play-off victories over West Bromwich Albion and then at Wembley against Derby saw Aston Villa return to the Premier League three seasons after relegation.

Deloitte’s Sports Business Group has forecast that promotion to the Premier League is worth £170m over the next three years, and more than £300m over five years if the club avoids relegation in the first season.

Sam Boor, senior manager at Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, said: “Promotion to the Premier League provides clubs with the financial resources to make strategic investments both on and off the pitch, and, given the relatively equal distribution of revenue amongst Premier League clubs, it provides promoted clubs with a chance to avoid relegation when they get there.

“However, significant investment in playing talent in an attempt to retain Premier League status is risky and does not guarantee safety. Recent seasons have seen some promoted clubs survive after restrained spending, while others have gone down despite big spending.”

However in six of the last 10 seasons – and four of the last five – the winners of the Championship play-off have been relegated immediately.

Aston Villa will want to emulate 2012 and 2013 winners West Ham and Crystal Palace, which have stayed in the Premier League.

Boor added: “Any club that enjoys a sustained period of participation in the Premier League could be expected to challenge for a place in the top 30 of the Deloitte Football Money League of the highest earning clubs in world football.”

The £170m figure is calculated as the extra revenue they will earn from playing in the Premier League in 2019/20 – at least an extra £95m, mostly from broadcast and commercial revenue generated from the Premier League – plus parachute payments following relegation over the following two seasons totalling around £75m.

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