Arsenal’s matchday ticket sales revenue are almost double that of rivals Chelsea according to UEFA.
The Blues earned £71m from ticket sales during the 23/24 season while the Gunners nearly doubled it receiving £127m from the season.
In fact, Chelsea placed sixth in the Premier League for ticket sales behind each of their closest league rivals.
The Athletic’s Chelsea reporter, Liam Twomey said: “You can put ticket prices up but that is hugely unpopular, which the owners have already done, but that can only boost income so much.
“The hard ceiling of Stamford Bridge means Chelsea have to make other operating decisions – they have to reach the Champions League.
“It is more important for Chelsea to qualify for the Champions League than Tottenham who have one of the finest modern stadiums in Europe which provides a higher floor for matchday revenue.”
Chelsea earned as much – £15m – for winning the Conference League as Slovan Bratislava did for losing every game of their Champions League campaign.
The Blues did however qualify for the 25/26 Champions League season, their first time in the competition since 2022.
Chelsea’s biggest issue is that their stadium, Stamford Bridge, has a capacity of 40,341 compared to Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, which can house 60,704.
The Blues have explored building a new stadium or moving to a new site on several occasions, but have been unable to make concrete plans.
Twomey added: “The capacity of Stamford Bridge means that Chelsea will always be operating at a revenue deficit relative to their rivals when it comes to matchday income.
“There are no great solutions to that problem for Chelsea’s ownership, a new stadium whether its at Stamford Bridge or elsewhere is incredibly difficult to pull off and will take years in the best case scenario.”
The complexity of either avenue has prevented the club from having a bigger stadium.
SW6, where Stamford Bridge is located, is incredibly built up meaning there is little space for the stadium to increase its capacity.
Chelsea do eclipse Manchester City and Liverpool for average income per fan, per home game, at £59.76 compared to City’s £50.63 and the Reds £55.61.
But the Blues are comfortable behind leaders Arsenal at £84.66 and Tottenham at £79.68.
Tottenham’s new stadium which opened in 2019, complete with state-of-the-art features and extended hospitality offerings.
Uefa’s report suggests that stadiums which have increased premium seating and hospitality options generate revenues nearly double those that have not.
Twomey said: “This even affects transfers – it affects what they can pay players in salary, it affects their recruitment model which is part of the reason as to why they are so determined to buy young, so that they can trade players profitably.”
Featured image credit: Jason Bagley via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 2.0 licence
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