AC Milan, for a third year in a row, have ended the previous season in profit. An interesting one, but an important one, nonetheless.
In recent years, there has been a greater focus on sustainability rather than success, according to some members of the Milan fanbase. Ultimately, though, one is not possible without the other. Chasing success without keeping track of figures is dangerous.
Read SempreMilan ad-free and get access to exclusive news. Click here for a free trial!
Primarily as clubs must be able to run the club without being under mountains of debt. Then, because the guidelines are getting stricter. If we go deeper, too, the club need to be in a good financial situation with hopes of building a new stadium. It all adds up.
Present and Future
So, as Calcio e Finanza report today, the Rossoneri have confirmed a third consecutive year of profit for the first time in the club’s history, as MilanNews relays. The board of directors met today and approved the figures, so they have officially closed the year with a positive net result of €3m.
These figures have been helped by sacrifices along the way, like Sandro Tonali’s sale to Newcastle United to start the trend and Tijjani Reijnders’ exit to Manchester City to continue it this year. However, having credit in the bank is important, even if it is frustrating.
As MilanPosts on X relays, though, the new stadium will be a ‘cornerstone’ of the new long-term strategy. So, the need for sacrifices may be lessened.
This profit means nothing in terms of improving the squad. If Milan has a profit, then why don’t the owners invest more in the club? That kind of question tells me that you don’t know what you are talking about.
The club can operate at a deficit of 60M in total over a three-year period. So honestly, what do people expect this club to do with this allowance when this very 60M has to be covered by equity from the owners themselves? A 60M deficit btw isn’t allowed for every year but in 3 years. 60M does nothing these days in making massive improvements.
I think people assume having a rich owner is going to solve Milan’s problems; it is not. The club needs to be making more on its own because of the above-mentioned rule.
A profit of anout 100-120M can help in making a substantial push in improving the squad and even then; there is a 70/30 split UEFA allows for clubs in order to avoid going into a deficit. 70 percent goes to wages,transfers and agent fees. 30 percent of the remaining revenue has to go to operating costs, young academies and infrastructure costs.
So realistically think about how sad 3 million in profit really means for the future. This club is going to struggle without a stadium and a high-quality youth academy. These two assets can resolve profit issues as abysmal as 3M seems. At the very least AC Milan can do as good of a job as Atletico Madrid or even Real Madrid.
They’re working on the stadium dude, as you have seen. But that’s not the whole story. The massive TV deal in the PL is what drive the big money there. It’s much bigger than stadium revenue. La Liga’s TV deal is not as big as the PL’s, but it’s still much larger than Serie A’s. Perhaps the two are related, however. Nice new stadiums full of people might help attract better TV deals, as clubs will have more money to sign better players which will increase the league’s appeal. In any case, Milan won’t have a new stadium until 2031/32 (and that’s still not a sure thing), Roma is even further behind, Napoli will probably never have its own stadium, neither will Lazio, or most of the other squads. So this is unlikely to change the scenario, and the small improvement Inter and Milan will get from their own stadium will still be peanuts to the PL. But something is better than nothing, I guess.
It’s a year when we missed out on CL and swapped half the squad, two coaches, and some managerial staff – hardly an efficient way to run a club. If we can establish some continuity with staff and sporting results, we’ll get better baseline numbers, strengthen the brand, and eventually attract better commercial deals.
There’s nothing fans won’t complain about. We’ve made reinforcement this season with a new coach, and we are getting results, yet it still remains a crime for the club to make profit.
For the first time in Milan history, 3 consecutive positive balance, and that is an offence.
Of course the club is in profit, they sold off more than half the squad!
And I’m sure next year Milan will be in profit despite no CL football, why? Because they will sell Leao
This is the new normal, sell our best players, reinvest in young players and sell them when ready to balance the books. We are now a feeder club
“For the first time in Milan history, 3 consecutive positive balance” – A history that includes 7 European Cups! But hey keep celebrating the financial victory
there are long term and short term strategies at play. they need a short term fixer and long term builder! long term is looking very bright, they will own their stadium and Futuro, although didn’t work out in year 1 is in place. Short term again like Futoro took hit but least a trophy! I feel more optimistic about this team then this time last year!!
Fans complain too much….check their business model or their financial situation you will realise that that know too much and fail to apply but they tend to provide financial advice above their capacity
A team finishing 20th place in EPL earns a 180M revenue minimum from the league. A team finishing 1st in Serie A earns around 30M prize money from the league.
Think about that disparity. It’s utterly ludicrous. That is the power of having an EFFING good broadcast deal in place.