Wimbledon serves up £55m in debenture sales

Perhaps it is the genuine prospect of Andy Murray being the first British winner since Virginia Wade in 1997? Or the certainty of more play as the new retractable roof comes into service. But demand for the new 5-year debentures for Wimbledon Centre Court is such that the Wimbledon authorities are confident enough to raise their prices from £23,150 in 2001 to £27,500 this time around. If, as expected, the debentures sell out the club will raise over £55 million in extra finance.

In these recessionary times it is quite a remarkable achievement. I would be interested to know how many of the debentures made available to private individuals will be sold to overseas investors - the 25% depreciation of sterling will have made the dollar price of a guaranteed seat on the show-courts for each day of the championships for five years a very attractive buy.

All England Lawn Tennis Ground plc, jointly and equally owned by The All England Lawn Tennis Club and The Lawn Tennis Association, issues Centre Court Wimbledon Debentures every five years to raise funds for capital expenditure. A similar program of debentures is also in place for No. 1 Court.

From an economics perspective, an interesting aspect of the Wimbledon debentures is that they are traded on an open market - the seller transfers property rights through the market mechanism.

Cynics will point out that the hundreds of millions made by the Lawn Tennis Association over the years have done very little to produce genuinely world class home-grown tennis players. Andy Murray is in the world’s top four despite rather than because of the LTA’s talent scheme.

And in contrast to the relative riches being served up in SW19 - consider the problems facing Stockport County FC in the lower reaches of the football league. They are trying to sell 4 year season tickets for £350 in a desperate bid for cash to see them through the summer.