Premier League will suffer economic fallout for years to come, warns Manchester United

Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the Premier League will suffer economic fallout in “the years to come”, with clubs facing a broadcast bill of at least £ 20 million even if the season is over, warned Manchester United. The club has faced a sharp increase in its debt in the third-quarter results that were published recently.

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'Usual business no more'

Underlining the severity of the financial crisis, executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward statement said, "Our third-quarter results published today reflect a partial impact that the pandemic has had on the club, while the greater impact will be in the current quarter and likely beyond. There are still profound challenges ahead, and for football as a whole, and it is safe to say it will not be ‘business as usual’ for some time."

"With that in mind, we remain firmly optimistic about the long-term prospects for the club and for our exciting, young team once we have worked our way through what is undoubtedly one of the most extraordinary and testing periods in the 142-year history of Manchester United. This club is built on resilience in the face of adversity and those qualities are being proven once again now,“ he added.

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Manchester United PLC on Thursday reported a fiscal third-quarter loss of $29.2 million, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier. The club said it had faced a loss of 18 cents per share. Losses, adjusted for non-recurring costs were 6 cents per share. The soccer club posted revenue of $157.9 million in the period.

Elaborating on the financial results, the club's chief financial officer Cliff Baty said, "We have estimated broadcast revenue reduction to be around £20 million for a full season of 38 games. At the third quarter, we have provided for a £15m reduction to our broadcasting revenues to reflect this impact for the 29 games played to date.”

During a fans' forum in April, Woodward cautioned fans and said that there will be reduced spending in the transfer market due to the impact of coronavirus. "Nobody should be under any illusions about the scale of the challenge facing everyone in football and it may not be ‘business as usual’ for any clubs, including ourselves, in the transfer market this summer. As ever, our priority is the success of the team, but we need visibility of the impact across the whole industry, including timings of the transfer window, and the wider financial picture, before we can talk about a return to normality,” Woodward had said at the time. 

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The last match of the Premier League took place on March 10 and around 10 matches of the season are still remaining. Liverpool leads the championship with a lead of 25 points. United are fifth in the Premier League with nine games remaining.

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