What Aston Villa stand to make as Champions League returns to Villa Park
Football on Europe’s biggest stage returns to Villa Park this evening as Aston Villa host German giants Bundesliga in the UEFA Champions League.
Not since a quarter-final exit in the 1982/83 competition have Villa hosted a game in the top-tier knockout club competition on the continent, and Wednesday evening’s clash, despite the understandable anger over the significant hiking of ticket prices, will be a sell-out affair.
A 3-0 win at Swiss side Young Boys in matchweek one got their campaign in the revamped Champions League off to a flying start, but they will face a sterner examination of their European credentials against the Bundesliga side this evening.
Unai Emery’s men entered into the competition with limited expectation to go deep into the latter stages, but the presence of the club at such a pivotal moment in Champions League history could be transformative as the club looks to raise its revenue streams to make challenging for a seat at the top table each season something that is expected, rather than an anomaly.
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This coming campaign in the Champions League where the Villans will take on Bayern Munich, Bologna, Juventus, and Celtic at Villa Park, has seen the club raise matchday ticket prices by as much as 55%, with tickets to cost fans between £70 and £97 for a one-off game.
For context, Liverpool's adult home ticket prices range from £30 to £61, Manchester City's from £37.50 to £62.50 and Arsenal's from £74.30 to £106.80, though the Gunners include Champions League home tickets in their season ticket price.
This season will see Villa have access to lucrative pots of cash through taking part in the Champions League.
For the 36 clubs that make it into the revamped league phase of the Champions League, which replaces the current group stage, there is a total €670m (£575m) to be shared equally. Villa are therefore entitled to €18.62m (£16m). There are then eight matches in this round to play, with the bonuses set at €2.1m (£1.8m) per win or €700,000 (£601,000) per draw.
After eight matches, this will form an overall league table featuring all 36 teams involved. Referred to as 'shares', the higher the finishing place the more 'shares' a club will receive. One share is €275,000 (£236,000), therefore, the 36th-placed side would take home one share €275,000 (£236,000) from the league system, whilst the team that finishes top wins 36 shares, or €9.9m (£8.5m).
Additionally, the clubs that place between first and eighth in the league will be given a €2m (£1.7m) bonus, and those placed ninth through to 16th will be awarded an extra €1m (£859,000).
Should Villa progress to the knockout stages they will be in the hat for further lucrative cash prizes. This begins with the play-off round, with teams bagging €1m (£859,000) for qualifying. To play in this round, a team must place between ninth and 24th in the league system.
The league system's top eight teams plus the eight that progress from the play-offs will be awarded €11m (£9.4m) each just for reaching the round of 16.
Qualification for the quarter-finals earns a club €12.5m (£10.7m), qualification for the semi-finals earns a club €15m (£12.8m), and lastly for reaching the grand final in Munich, the prize is €18.5m (£15.8m).
Finally, the competition's winner earns€6.5m (£5.5m) for lifting the trophy, and would later earn €4m (£3.4m) for competing in the following season's UEFA Super Cup. They would face the winner of next season's Europa League, with the winner getting €1m (£1m).
In Villa’s most recently published financial accounts for the 2022/23 period, it included 20 home games at Villa Park, with 19 of those falling in the Premier League. That worked out at revenue of £940,000 per home game.
The ticket price rise would see that revenue per game increase considerably, with each game a likely sell-out. It would be reasonable to assume that the matchday revenue would be edging towards the £2m mark for a Champions League matchday, given that the above average was worked out when some matchdays Villa Park wasn’t at maximum capacity.
The reason for the rise will be a case of supply and demand. Season ticket money is already accounted for by clubs at the start of a season, but cup competitions are an added bonus, with every supporter in the stadium paying for the privilege of attending that particular game.
Villa aren’t out of pocket from competing in the Champions League, it is quite the opposite. They aren’t covering costs for hosting additional games with this rise. It is a rise that has been done to generate additional income from an opportunity that hasn’t been available to ownership all too often at Villa. It might draw in an extra £4m-£5m should the run in the competition last just the four home games and four away games.
Whether there is a visible display of dismay at the ticket price hike this evening remains to be seen, but for a club that is on the incline like Villa, the Champions League offers lucrative benefits, although the real change happens when repeated qualification arrives which positively impacts the club’s UEFA co-efficient. Repeating a top-four finish this season will, however, be no easy task.