Stamford Bridge
Stamford Bridge
Revenue. It's a word you cannot get away from these days - but there is a reason for that.
There are always caveats when comparing match day income to London clubs - the Supporters' Trust have estimated that season ticket prices have increased by an average of 17% at Stamford Bridge in the last two years - but the Blues brought in £80.1m in 2023-24.
For context, Newcastle generated £50.1m in the same period - even with the benefit of a bigger stadium and Champions League nights.
It serves as a reminder, if one was even needed, of the wider revenue gap that Newcastle (£320.3m) have to bridge on Chelsea (£468.5m) in a PSR world.
In fact, Chelsea (£337.8m), who have even sold off assets such as the women's team and club hotels, spent more on salaries than the Magpies generated in income a couple of seasons ago.
Chelsea's ability to do so has played its part in the Londoners winning the race to sign Joao Pedro, Liam Delap and Tosin Adarabioyo in the last 12 months, but they are not going to stop there.
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, implored Chelsea to 'come and speak to us in relation to what you want to do' a few months ago after suggesting that the Blues would 'look with some envy at the stadiums' of some of their rivals.
Chelsea have since met with officials at City Hall.
Although Khan is unaware of any 'recent formal proposals' from the club when it comes to building a new stadium at Earl's Court - his approval would be needed for such a project - the mayor's spokesman confirmed to ChronicleLive that he 'works closely with all Premier League football clubs in London across a variety of matters'.
"The mayor and TfL can only form a view once they have seen the details of any potential proposals," he added.
Chelsea clearly have work to do on that front after minority owner Hansjorg Wyss previously admitted there were 'a lot of obstacles' - even if Earl's Court was the 'best option we can even think of'.
However, Chelsea's long-term ambition is clear - 'a stadium that reflects the size of the club' in the words of chairman Todd Boehly.
It goes without saying that Boehly has a far bigger number in mind than the 40,341 seats that Stamford Bridge currently has. Stadiums, after all, are only going to get larger.
To think there was once a time when only Manchester United boasted a bigger ground than Newcastle in the Premier League.
However, Spurs, West Ham, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City and Everton have all since scaled up and leapfrogged the Magpies in terms of capacity; Aston Villa plan to increase the size of Villa Park to enable more than 50,000 fans to attend games by 2027; and newly-promoted Leeds United want to eventually turn Elland Road into 'one of the biggest stadiums in the country'.
The wait for an announcement goes on in these parts, but it is easy to see why senior figures at Newcastle have been conscious of taking their time. They want to choose a scheme that makes the 'biggest impact'.
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