How much does a Premier League point cost?

Hot on the heels of yesterday’s Sky Football vs Pub Landlady court ruling here is another football related story, which this time provides an interesting view on the return club owners get on their investment.

FourFourTwo magazine have examined the finances of the top ten Premier League clubs since they were taken over by their owners. It looks at how much has been invested in new players, player wages and infrastructure by these investors, and what returns they have gained in points in the league table. As a result they have calculated how much each Premier League point has cost each club. The red side of Liverpool may want to turn away at this point.

Liverpool ‘top’ this table at £7.5 million per point since J W Henry came aboard, whilst their Merseyside neighbours Everton have only spent £50k per point during Bill Kenwright’s tenure. Given their success in the last couple of seasons, it seems to me that Spurs come out of this particular well with just £303k per point.

This is a great article for introducing the concept of returns on investment as well as looking at investment appraisal. As the article points out, if Liverpool can start to do the business on the pitch with their recent high profile big money signings, then the pounds per point measure will soon start to fall. So perhaps John Henry is willing to take a long term view on getting a return.