03 Oct 2026 07:37:46
Morning eds and Reds,
A very hypothetical question here (possibly a 'too early to say' question).
It's been well documented about the investment from the middle east into the UK that is linked to the group in charge of man city and the economic risk that comes along with it if they withdraw. If City's owners are either forced or decide to sell, how do you think this would impact the rest of the Premier League clubs?
I'm assuming that most (if not every club) will have at least one sponsor, either directly or indirectly, that is connected to the middle east. Is there a risk this could have detrimental financial implications for all clubs in the league?
03 Oct 2026 08:37:56
I doubt it, the Premier League is huge globally, it can survive losing sponsors from the Middle East. It might have a small transient effect but nothing it can't ride out.
At the end of the day I hope there will be a time where Premier League finances take a huge hit because the money in the game is obscene. I don't want to see clubs go out of business, so perhaps a moderate impact which makes the Premier League draw its horns in.
03 Oct 2026 09:08:20
OP - the Middle East is a big place mate, can't see Emirates pulling out of Arsenal because of this, can you?
03 Oct 2026 09:09:16
Tbh it looks like the league is going more American. 55% of the league is American owned, I'd over the next few years you'll see more Americanised sponsorship.
03 Oct 2026 11:17:50
I would hope the EPL takes the Elon Musk approach which he faced about possibility losing ad revenue on X.
03 Oct 2026 14:20:13
Trigger warning, some slight exaggerations in the following rant:
The total value of the UK's economy absolutely dwarves the foreign investment from the Abu Dhabi do's; it would be a fraction of a percent. The doomsdayers who claim it will have a detrimental effect are either journo's selling a story, City fans trying to cope or the type of people who are genuinely concerned about the possibility of a zombie apocalypse. The likes of Burnham & co will certainly express their "concerns", but his only real concern is the backhanders he gets.
The league and the rest of the teams are their own entities, with their own fanbases and essentially 'their own economies'; they would remain very much unaffected if City disappeared tomorrow, sure there might be a slight dip in Sky Sports viewership from the 12 people who actually follow City but it would be a minor blip in the grand scheme of things.
I see some online acting as if the UAE backing out of the UK would serve as some sort of rug pull, as if their investment will be sucked directly from the circulation of cash overnight. They're invested, that word means something, they can't just ask for a refund, there's no 28-day return policy, if they did pull out, they'd likely sell up, and somebody would take their place. Sure, they can withdraw from future commitments, but that money hasn't entered the economy yet. There may be an overall loss of course, but it's nowhere near as significant as some are trying to make out. Short-term job loss for the working man is always my main concern when the super wealthy play silly games in my opinion.
Yes, City turn over a huge amount of cash, but that's City's revenue, not the league's, whether it's here today gone tomorrow doesn't affect our ticket sales, or anyone elses. Yes, less fans would tune in to watch City if they're not here, but the league sells broadcasting rights in multi-year deals, their revenue from these current deals would remain unaffected, and it's unlikely to seriously affect future deals either, if City disappears tomorrow, potential buyers would be unwise to try and use that as a bargaining chip to bring the price down, the rights are a package deal, they're buying into the value of the competition as a whole, and as many have stated before; no player is bigger than the club, and in turn, no team is bigger than the league.
City bring nothing to the table, they can't even fill their own stadium, and the UK was functioning just fine long before Sheik Shishkebob's little investment, which they probably always considered a bit of a smoke screen and security net for them were this day ever to come. Is it a coincidence that 90% of Abu Dhabi's investment in the UK came AFTER Rui Pinto handed over the hard drives?
04 Oct 2026 00:21:27
OP, it's not too early to say Mansour and the gang should do the decent thing and leave. The PL would be much better for it.