Chris Heck - President of Business Operations

[eamonn]

I wonder if it is possible to reduce the amount of ground closure whilst the new stand is being constructed.

I think it's been mentioned before that building behind the North Stand for as long as possible without impacting the existing seats is hard to do because of all the utilites/cables that need to be sorted and removed - i.e it's a whole no-go area for the duration of construction.

[pablo_picasso]

Chelsea also turned over half a billion in their last figures, and their stadium is smaller than ours.

But their profits are over-inflated for a club their size, with a stadium their size, by the fact that they were allowed to spend billions of pounds in transfer fees, which created success on the pitch, which then allowed them to command high sponsorship deals & to cattle together some of the best young talent in the world so they could make high profits on them via their youth academy farm.

Without that initial spending, they are basically Norwich.

And with that loophole now closed, it doesn't matter what size their stadium is because they already have the over-inflated profits that make it almost impossible for newcomers to catch them from a commercial standpoint...

Of course, I agree completely with your assessment of how Chelsea have got here. 

However, I disagree that they can't be caught -  commercially speaking.  It will take a while, but with consistent(ish) success on the pitch, I'd be surprised if our commercial revenues didn't get close to theirs in the next four or five years - maybe sooner if the on-pitch success really takes off. 

Yes, a new/bigger stadium will make a difference, but not a decisive one.  We don't close that gap on teams like Chelsea and Spurs by having a 50k+ state of the art stadium.  That's simply not how it works.  If size of stadium was a major determining factor in commercial success, then Sunderland wouldn't have spent four of the last six seasons in League One.

Im not so positive that we can catch them commercially, unless there are some rule changes, or the success/failure of each club is such that it tips the balance of wealthy sponsors in favour of one & against the other.

Not impossible, but the way the rules are set to help keep the status quo, it's going to be very difficult

Im not so sure we can do this ｣400M by 2027 either. Not unless rules change.

Take a look at where we are currently with the new adidas deal for several years, the Betano deal for two years, prize money for league & Champions League, etc. All great. But all are bumps in the finances right now. We aren't going to suddenly get a shit ton more money from adidas in 2026 because that deal has already been agreed. We might drop money when the Betano deal ends because betting companies simply paid more. And we would have to keep getting 4th spot & Champions League money just to stay still. And I don't think the relative peanuts we are getting from Hecks new 'Cells', 'Lower Grounds', etc, are going to make much of a dent in the grand scheme of things.

Don't get me wrong, I admit I know almost nothing about finances & all it entails, especially in the footballing sense, so I may be way off the mark. I hope I am, but I have my doubts about 2027 targets being met.

Fuck it, Im gonna step back from the convo. I just wanted to answer your Chelsea sized ground point... 👍

[Percy McCarthy]

^^ Agreed. We can easily see the path to revenue of ｣300m for next season. Harder to see another ｣100m after that with TV revenues plateauing, unless we increase capacity, move, or there is a populous demographic willing to pay ridiculous ticket prices.

I mean, I知 always optimistic about the size of this club and I知 looking forward to seeing how far we can go, but it will take hard work, imaginative marketing.and, dare I say it, creative accounting.

[Hookeysmith]

I see that Betano is heavily promoted at the Euros - it is these size of sponsors we need to attract. It worries me a little though that we are hoovering up a lot of "non football" staff which must cost a lot of money in salaries etc.

[London Villan]

In the turnover of a football club it's pennies... Even the CCO would "only" be on ｣150k (plus bonuses) which is about a week's salary for Luca Digne for example...

[Dogtanian]

The man does not hang about, does he?

https://www.avfc.co.uk/news/2024/june/17/villa-announce-carlsberg-marston-s-brewing-company-partnership/

I'm assuming these chaps are giving us much more money.

[Risso]

"The partnership with CMBC marks a significant step in improving the matchday experience for Aston Villa fans."

But they're serving Carlsberg. Does not compute.

[Chris Smith]

"The partnership with CMBC marks a significant step in improving the matchday experience for Aston Villa fans."

But they're serving Carlsberg. Does not compute.

I知 not a lager drinker but I知 sure I read that it was probably the best one in the world.

[Brazilian Villain]

If Aston Villa did Mondays...

[Gareth]

"The partnership with CMBC marks a significant step in improving the matchday experience for Aston Villa fans."

But they're serving Carlsberg. Does not compute.

Carlsberg served totally incompetenty like all previous drinks

[Toronto Villa]

Carlsberg is a big CL sponsor aren稚 they? So we take the money and if it pleases don稚 drink the product. I知 sure many will.

[Clampy]

Maybe serving Carlsberg will bring the queues down.

[Risso]

Maybe serving Carlsberg will bring the queues down.

And thereby removing the queues for the toilets as well.

[Edvard Remberg]

1664 is pretty good as a lager

[Steve67]

1664 is pretty good as a lager

I agree, nice stuff. Agree with others though, no matter what drunk is being served, it needs to be served better. Great that we are moving forward though.