English Premier League

Arsenal are the only club of the English Premier League (EPL) 'Big Six' who have the financial resilience to withstand major future economic shocks, ...

The researchers hope this study can help clubs to better withstand and recover from economic shocks. "The findings show the lack of economic resilience amongst the wealthiest clubs and their reliance on external financial resources puts them at risk if the UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations (FFP) were to change. This became starkly evident during the COVID-19 crisis (which was outside of the time period when the data was collected) , where a number of EPL teams made it clear that they were struggling financially, or acted in a manner that demonstrated that the financial pinch was being felt." While EPL clubs present a large and increasing contribution to the UK economy, clubs are highly reliant on one major source of income and on key individuals. The results show Arsenal is the only current EPL team that has a strong resilience to changes in the wider economy. From 1993 to 2018, the UK economy more than doubled, whereas the wealth of the EPL clubs is 10 times larger than in 1998 and 30 times larger than in 1993.