Arsenal recorded a post-tax loss of £45m in their most recent financial year as the absence of European football for the first time in the 25 years hit hard.
While the wage bill fell considerably and the return of supporters provided a significant boost in matchday income, the club said that “the loss of the revenue associated with UEFA football was the principal contributory factor in terms of the overall result for the year.”
Arsenal’s wage bill, which includes all staff and not just Mikel Arteta’s squad, was trimmed to £212.3m (down from £244.4m a year earlier). Matchday income totalled £79.4m. A year earlier, with the majority of games behind closed doors owing to the pandemic, Arsenal earned only £3.8m from home games.
Their broadcasting revenue also fell to £146m (down from £184.4m), both as a consequence of no European football and the previous financial featuring an additional payment because all behind closed doors games were shown live on television.
Their return to the Europa League this season is already worth north of £10m, which still pales in comparison to the sums made by Champions League clubs. Premier League rivals Chelsea, for instance, have banked £60m from their group stage success.
Arsenal’s lower wage bill is explained by “£6.7 million of exceptional costs in the prior year in relation to staff reorganisation and headcount reduction,” the club said.
“On the player side, there has been a process of restructuring the men’s first-team squad to improve the efficiency of spend; this includes changes made in earlier years but where the full benefit has only been realised in the 2021/22 figures.”
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Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s move to Barcelona in January will have saved the club millions, following on from the departures of high-earning David Luiz and WIllian at the start of last season.
Arsenal’s statement outlining the results also referred to the club’s divisive owners, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, funding their significant transfer spend. Player registrations and amortisation totalled £187.9 million, according to the accounts.
Arteta’s squad added Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City and Fabio Vieira from Porto this summer, with the club spending more than £150m last season on seven players including Ben White, Martin Odegaard and goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.
“This investment recognises that the club has not been where it wanted to be in terms of on-field competitiveness and that, as a minimum, qualification for UEFA competition needed to be regained, as a prerequisite to re-establishing a self-sufficient financial base,” the statement said.
“This investment would not have been possible without the support and commitment of the Club’s ownership, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment.”
Commercial revenue increased slightly to £141.7m (up from £136.4m). The club’s deal with Amazon to broadcast the All or Nothing documentary was previously revealed to have been worth about £10m.
