AC Milan begin their 2023-24 Europa League campaign tomorrow night against Stade Rennais at San Siro, and the ownership hope that it will be the start of a profitable campaign in every sense of the word.
La Gazzetta dello Sport revisit the bitter feelings from Rafael Leao’s backheel against Newcastle, Samuel Chukwueze’s missed chances in Dortmund and Olivier Giroud’s failure to convert a spot kick against the same opponent.
These were all incidents that could have changed the Rossoneri’s fortunes in the Champions League group stages, and now we would definitely be talking about a different situation, especially in terms of income.
The Champions League and Europa League are two different tiers of competition, as seen in the fact that the total prize pot for the former is €2bn while that of the latter is €465m, i.e. less than a quarter.
Given this, it is certainly true that Milan will close the 2023-24 European campaign with decidedly lower earnings than last year: reaching the Champions League semi-final had brought in almost €130m, including all parts.
Participation in the group stage – including UEFA prizes, market pool/historical ranking, box office, results and commercial activities – has in fact guaranteed around €65m so far this season. Now we need to squeeze as much as possible out of the Europa League.
The revenues for the UEL are as follows: €500k for access to this play-off round, €1.2m for the passage to the round of 16, €1.8m for the quarter-finals, €2.8m for the semi-finals, €4.6m for the final and €4m for whoever raises the trophy.
There is a potential total €14.9m, to which we must add the market pool (minimum €5m), qualification for the European Super Cup (€3.5m) and box office receipts, which are difficult to quantify at the moment.
It is obvious that the yardstick cannot be the €9.1m that the round of 16 of the Champions League with Tottenham brought in a year ago, but if Milan move on in the tournament then €3m per game is a legitimate aim.
The enthusiasm is there, the will to try is there and lifting the trophy in Dublin could bring in around €40m. Not bad for a ‘second rate’ competition.