Dr Dan: Aston Villa could seal £16m-a-year windfall after Purslow update
Aston Villa could take their matchday revenue up to approximately £16million-a-year with their proposed expansion of Villa Park, according to Dan Plumley.
However, the football finance expert, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, suggested it would take considerable investment into commercial facilities and hospitality to put the club on a level footing with the Premier League elite.
In an interview with club media (27 November), Villa chief executive Christian Purslow revealed the club are progressing well with plans to increase Villa Park’s capacity to 50,000.
He also revealed the club are committed to improving their hospitality and commercial space.
In Villa’s 2019-20 accounts, matchday income equated to £12.75million.
Plumley revealed that figure should rise by “a few million” if capacity is increased to 50,000.
“Any uplift in capacity is a boost,” he told Football Insider‘s Dylan Childs.
“The bigger clubs are more well positioned to benefit from increased capacity because they have extra games in Europe.
“When you look at matchday revenues for Villa, they are hovering around £11-12million in the last few years. The bigger clubs range from £55-110million.
“An increase in capacity would lead to a few extra million a year in gate receipts.
“Purslow also outlined plans to improve the club’s commercial facilities and hospitality as well. Villa are a long way behind the bigger clubs in that sense though. The size of the gap is considerable.
“But any boost in capacity would give the club a strong footing to generate more matchday revenue. It is always a sensible move for clubs to do that if the demand is there and with Villa I believe it is. I’m sure they would fill 50,000 quite comfortably.”
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