Ahead of tomorrow night’s Champions League final, Arsenal fans are wondering what might have been. But for Stan Kroenke, 2024-25 has been an unqualified financial success.
Mikel Arteta took the Gunners to the semi-finals of Europe’s most illustrious competition for only the third time in the club’s history, with Arsenal earning close to £100m in prize money along the way.
In the Premier League, the North Londoners fell short too. That’s three times in successive seasons they have finished as runners-up, which equals an all-time English record.
However, in financial terms, the difference between Arsenal in 2nd and Liverpool in 1st is negligible. It will be £2-3m this season. That’s money that Stan Kroenke barely bothers getting out of bed for.
Chart showing TV revenue per Premier League club for 2024-25, with TBR Football logo
Premier League TV revenue per club Credit: Adam Williams//TBR Football/GRV Media
In fact, if they had won their first Premier League title in over two decades, Arsenal would likely have seen any extra prize money wiped – and then some – by performance-related bonuses to players.
Talking about a football club in such clinical, numerical terms is an alien concept to most fans, but this is how Stan Kroenke and his son, Josh Kroenke, look at their investment at the Emirates Stadium.
Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post
Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post
The return to the Champions League is the real quantum leap when it comes to revenue. Anything beyond that is a bonus. While the Championship play-off final has always been considered the richest match in football, the difference between finishing in the top four (or five, this season) can be almost as stark.
Take a look at the numbers. In 2022-23, when Arsenal reached the Europa League round-of-16, their revenue was £467m. The following season when they returned to the Champions League for the first time in six years? It shot up by just shy of £157m. Granted, some of that was down to impressive improvements in commercial and matchday income, but income direct from UEFA was by far the biggest driver.
Infographic comparing Arsenal's squad cost - wages and amortisation - with their revenue in recent years with the TBR Football
Arsenal squad cost – wages and amortisation – compared to revenue Credit: Adam Williams/TBR Football/GRV Media
In his programme notes ahead of Arsenal’s final day clash against Southampton, Josh Kroenke wrote: “Ultimately, we all want the same thing. We’re as hungry for success as you are and that goes for everyone who works for the club.”
But while there’s no reason to doubt that the Kroenkes want to win, it’s not the single most important thing to them as it is to Arsenal fans.
Arsenal will post a profit for the first time since Stan Kroenke’s full takeover
It’s going to be a busy summer for Arsenal in the transfer market.
They spent only modestly in 2024-25 and, with new sporting director Andrea Berta having now got his feet under the table, budgets have been set and envoys dispatched to charm would-be recruits.
But given that they owe £268m in transfer debt – the fourth-highest sum in the Premier League – how much capacity do they have to spend without Kroenke Sports & Entertainment personally investing?
“They have got high transfer debt but some of that isn’t due for a few years,” says University of Liverpool football finance lecturer Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to TBR Football.
Club Transfer debt (£m)
Chelsea 498
Tottenham Hotspur 337
Manchester United 331
Arsenal 268
Manchester City 230
West Ham 191
Leeds United (2023) 190
Nottingham Forest 184
Newcastle United 160
Aston Villa 156
Wolves 135
Liverpool 128
Bournemouth 126
Brighton 104
Everton 74
Fulham 72
Crystal Palace 67
Brentford 61
Sheffield United 40
Luton Town 6
Premier League transfer debt 2023-24
“£103m was due in 2024-25, so I think they’re fine. I don’t think that will be an issue because normally, you’re paying over three or four instalments.”
Arsenal had £67m cash in the bank as of their year-end accounting date in April last year. Are those reserves plus their spare revenues in 2024-25 enough to fund a lavish summer?
Kieran Maguire says: “The progress they made to the semi-final in the Champions League this season under the new format will count in their favour.
Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images
Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images
“All of that has been done to placate the Super League clubs, by the way.
“They will post a profit this season. Of that we can be relatively confident. They owe money to Kroenke but most of that will be at low rates or interest-free.”
If Arsenal do end 2024-25 with a profit, it will be their first since 2017-18. They are also set to break the £500m squad cost barrier – annual wages plus amortisation – for the first time too.
Chart showing the profit and loss account of Arsenal over the last 10 years, superimposed over a generic image of a football pitch
Arsenal profit and loss accounts Credit: Adam Williams/TBR Football/GRV Media
That was before Stan Kroenke bought the club outright.
There is an irony in that when Kroenke Sports & Entertainment won the battle with Alisher Usmanov for 100 per cent control of the club, it was seen as the start of a move in a more self-sufficient direction.
Instead, Kroenke has loaned the club £324m out of his own pocket to cover the losses since 2018.
Arsenal owe KSE £324m in shareholder loans – it will have PSR impact
As it happens, the £324m that Arsenal owe Stan Kroenke could potentially eat into how much they can spend under the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
The loans, which increased by over £60m last season, now fall under the remit of the Premier League’s Associated Party Transaction and Fair Market Values rules.
That is a direct result of Manchester City’s challenge to the rules in an ongoing arbitration case.
Thanks to that legal victory over the Premier League, the £324m in shareholder loans from which Arsenal are currently benefitting are considered a subsidy and thereby must be subject to a fair market value assessment. Any loans deemed to be at a disproportionally favourable interest rate will have a nominal interest rate applied for the purposes of PSR.
Arsenal have acres of PSR headroom as it stands, but this wasn’t always the case. And the fact that Manchester City want the new rules on shareholder loans applied retrospectively could be tricky for the Gunners.
This is one of a number of reasons why the two clubs have fallen out at boardroom level, as well as on the pitch, in recent seasons.