SCOTT TROTTER FROM FOOTBALLL LONDON
Chelsea have reasserted their ambitions for club revenue to reach £1billion, with the Blues seeing a huge opportunity to improve across a number of areas. Club and Nike officials joined the Fans’ Forum for their latest meeting to discuss merchandising and marketing.
The Fans’ Forum is a body consisting of elected fans and senior members of the club. On this occasion, Nike club business director Dave Atkinson, club director Daniel Finkelstein and club president of business Tom Glick were just a few of those present in addition to representatives from a number of groups.
The Blues revealed intentions to increase the number of partnerships they hold, and there is an intention to bring greater revenues to ensure more can be invested into the team. It is not simply or the hope of closing the gap on rivals, but to surpass their competitors in this area.
Reaching the £1billion figure has long been acknowledged as a target, with co-ower Jose E. Feliciano believing Chelsea have a very good opportunity to do so via hidden assets. The fan forum focused on more traditional routes however.
Minutes from the meeting read: “Domestic and international TV revenue will grow and we will be proactive regarding that within the Premier League and European competitions, as well as via our own activities. There is a huge opportunity as we currently have fewer partners bringing in less overall revenue than some clubs and we are looking for a more global reach. We are in discussions looking at various sectors and want more deals with partners but it has to be the perfect partner in each area so fans can clearly be informed as to the benefits for them directly, either digitally or in person.
“This will be a big part of the criteria by which we judge partnerships. Our own media channels will be a sizable part of publicising each partner message and we are developing new content for our fans. It was raised that we have 13 partners, Manchester United has 25 and Spurs has 16. The Club said there is more focus on us now than even a few years ago and the more revenue we receive, the more we can invest in our team and activities. We want to move ahead of our competitors on this.”
The club also revealed that this season’s home and away kits are set to see their strongest sales under the Nike partnership while the third kits has proved less popular. Furthermore, offerings for 2023/24 and 2024/25 have already been signed off by the club but this process is being reviewed under the new ownership with the possibility of focus groups.
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