‘Man City, Arsenal, Man United could sell women’s teams to themselves like Chelsea’
Chelsea may have set a trend that the likes of Arsenal, Man City and Man United could follow with the internal sale of their women’s team, Stefan Borson has suggested.
The football finance expert indicated that doing so could be a way for sides to strengthen their position when filing their financial records in order to escape profit and sustainability [PSR] issues.
It is understood that Chelsea sold their women’s team last summer to BlueCo, which is part of the Stamford Bridge outfit’s parent company.
In doing so, they have been able to produce accounts that mean Chelsea are said to be confident of avoiding any breaches of PSR for the latest financial year.
Man City, Man United and Arsenal can earn same financial boost
When publishing their accounts for the financial year earlier this week, the Stamford Bridge club were able to headline their records with a pre-tax profit of £128.4million.
Borson has suggested that Chelsea may be attempting to mislead their fans by making such claims, due to the fact that profit has largely been generated by internal sales of the assets such as the women’s team.
Even so, that is the sort of move he admits will be sustainable as long as owner Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital are willing to put money into such deals.
Meanwhile, Arsenal, Man City and Man United all have women’s team who successfully compete with Chelsea’s at the top of the game in England and Europe.
| Women’s Super League position | Played | Points |
| 1. Chelsea | 18 | 48 |
| 2. Arsenal | 18 | 42 |
| 3. Man United | 18 | 42 |
| 4. Man City | 18 | 35 |
As a result, Borson believes those clubs could also look at selling their women’s teams in the same way as Chelsea in order to avoid PSR issues, and put a more positive spin on their financial situation.
After being asked on talkSPORT if the likes of Arsenal, Man City and Man United could make such moves as Chelsea have, the football finance expert said:
“We know that Chelsea’s women’s team revenue from the Deloitte report, that splits out what the Chelsea women’s team revenue was, it’s something like £10million.
“So we’re talking about a very, very significant multiple of revenue [the internal sale price], which is the only way you can really measure one of these clubs, you can’t do it on earnings.
“So you do it on a multiple of revenue or you look at comparable transactions. The big, famous comparable transaction in the women’s game was the sale of Angel City, which is a Los Angeles team that’s given everybody this view that you can attribute very, very high valuation to women’s football.
“I would say that it seems an extremely aggressive valuation, but if it’s right, then what it also means is that Man City, Arsenal, Man United, all have very valuable women’s teams that they also could move off within their group to generate substantial profit.”
Chelsea lead being followed would be no surprise
Football Insider Verdict
There will surely be a number of other big clubs with successful women’s teams who will now be considering going down this route.
It appears as though Chelsea have now proven it can be done successfully to bolster their financial situation and avoid potential punishment over PSR.
Given the benefits of that many other clubs in a position to do so will no doubt be keen to follow suit, since it would help them avoid having to sell assets such as key players to meet financial regulations.
There have been questions in particular about the financial situation at Man United especially with their new stadium plans, which will put further pressure on their use of funds.
An internal sale of the women’s team that can still help to raise profits amid those financial challenges, is therefore likely to be an appealing prospect for others to explore now Chelsea have set the tone.