A.F.C Bournemouth new stadium 'key' for club to becoming established in Premier League

By Stephen Emerson

10 May 2022

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A new stadium is key to Bournemouth becoming a Premier League mainstay

A new stadium is key to A.F.C Bournemouth building a permanent presence in the Premier League.

That is the view of Julie Palmer, a regional managing partner at Begbies Traynor, the corporate rescue and recovery practice behind the Red Flag Alert Football Financial Distress Survey.

The Poppies gained promotion to the Premiership following their second place finish in the Championship for the 2021/22 season.

A.F.C Bournemouth announced plans for a £35m training ground in 2019 however work has stalled following the pandemic despite the club acquiring land on a former golf course for £3.75 million.

Julie, who played a key role in selling A.F.C Bournemouth out of administration in 2008, said a new stadium on top of a new training ground is key to supporting the club's long term Premiership survival hopes.

She said: "The challenge for Bournemouth is that they are competing against clubs, even when they were in the Championship, who could command attendances of over 45,000 compared to their 11,000.

"The stadium is in a fairly residential area with limited potential to extend the stands therefore a new stadium would be required costing millions of pounds.

"If Bournemouth have ambitions to remain a premier league club and not just one that punches against the odds then the stadium is something that they are going to have to address at some point."

Size of the prize

A.F.C Bournemouth is set to benefit from an increase in broadcast revenues which are expected to land the club an additional £100m plus in income however Julie says that this value is only the tip of the iceberg.

She said: "The Championship play-off is often referred to as the £100m plus game however there is also the peripheral number that sits around the town itself.

"The amount of visitors to Bournemouth will increase and it also changes the perception of the town as a retirement seaside town to one that is a seaside town with a Premier League club which gives its economy a massive boost."

Parachute payments

A.F.C Bournemouth had received around £75m in parachute payments following their relegation from the Premier League in 2019/20 following a five season spell in the top flight and had one more year of support remaining.

Julie said: "It was key that Bournemouth got promoted quite quickly as the parachute payments give clubs the shot in the arm needed to achieve promotion if they go down.

"If they hadn't been promoted this season then next season would have been the final roll of the dice.

"Parachute payments are also subject to some debate at the moment as to whether they contribute to an uneven playing field and there is some question over their future.

"You can almost predict the top six of the Premier League and there is a danger that the Championship will become like that."

Ownership

The club, like many in the Premier League and Championship, is dependent on rich owner Maxim Demin to balance the books.

She said: "Bournemouth are still reliant on a really wealthy owner who is propping them up each year.

"I don’t know what the owner's long term aims are. It could be to establish Premier League status then achieve a sale as we saw with Mike Ashley.

"He could be looking to be involved in the longer term in terms of financing a new stadium.

"If Bournemouth can continue to establish themselves in the Premier League then the money he has invested will look a very shrewd investment."

Christina Philippou, a University of Portsmouth academic who contributed to the UK Government's review of football finance, said that landing in the Premier League was no guarantee of riches.

She said: "You see a lot of that in the Championship, where the motivation is to hit the big time and be promoted to the Premier League.

"When they get to the Premier League it's not as if everything is rosy. Yes the revenues are much better but in terms of sustainability we are seeing issues in Premier League clubs as well.

"There is a massive difference between the top end - those that play in Europe - and the bottom end particularly around broadcast and commercial revenues."

US investment

American investment in the English game is growing at a fast pace underlined by the recent acquisition of Chelsea by American billionaire Todd Boehly

US-led consortiums also own Manchester United, Liverpool, Burnley, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Fulham.

Julie said this increased interest from America stemmed from a belief that Premier League clubs had not yet reached their global marketing potential.

She said: "A lot of the Americans are looking at this saying, the Premier League is one of the successful brands in the world but it has not been fully tapped to its its potential if you compare it to sports in America.

"They see a real opportunity of owning a Premier League club.

"There is a massive amount of interest in football in America at the moment and soccer has an appeal for parents as being a safer option than American football."

By Stephen Emerson

Stephen Emerson is the Managing Editor of The Business Magazine and is responsible for the publication's print publications and online properties including the newly launched Biz News websites in Hampshire and Dorset.

Stephen has been a journalist for 20 years and has worked at local, regional and national publications and led a team which made The Scotsman website one of the fastest growing news sites in the UK with over eight million monthly users.

He has a keen interest in technology, property and corporate finance and telling the stories of the people behind the successful firms in these sectors.