Blackpool FC financial losses rise to £4.8m during Covid-affected promotion winning season

The club’s latest financial results cover the club’s promotion winning campaign from League One during the 2020/21 season.

The vast majority of the campaign was played behind closed doors due to the pandemic, which inevitably had a major impact on the club’s ticket sales.

Turnover, however, remained pretty stable at £5.4m, down ever so slightly from £5.5m the previous year.

“During the year the effects of Covid-19 have had an impact on operations at the club,” Blackpool said.

“Supporters were unable to attend matches, resulting in a significant reduction in gate receipts.

“However, match streaming saw a significant increase which helped bridge the gap in any lost revenue.

"Throughout the pandemic, measures have been taken to ensure the club's budgets and forecasts reflect up-to-date government guidelines and mitigate any connected losses."

The accounts show gate receipts dropped from £1.1m to just £73,000 from the previous year, due to the absence of supporters.

The club were able to host two games in front of limited crowds for the games against Swindon Town and Oxford United, for the second leg of their play-off semi-final.

At Wembley, meanwhile, 4,000 Seasiders were able to make the trip to witness Blackpool’s promotion back to the Championship.

The club still recouped £771,000 from season ticket sales, with a large number of supporters opting not to claim a refund to help assist the club. This figure stood at £1m for the previous year.

Bar and food sales predictably plummeted to just £2,000 from £328,000, but merchandise was up from £383,000 to £561,000.

One major positive for the club was the income it brought in from match streaming, as fans were able to watch all of their games via the iFollow platform. This rose from £45,000 to £579,000.

The main focus for club directors going forward is the retention of the club’s Championship status, the report adds.

To achieve this, the strategy is to; identify the right players; develop youngsters through the academy and; develop the club commercially to maximise revenue streams.

The annual report also shows that wages and salaries for all club staff, including the players and coaching team, rose from £6m to £6.8m.

The overall number of staff, meanwhile, dropped from 154 to 107.

Amounts due to related parties, which is defined as someone with control, joint control or significant influence over the company, increased from £3.5m to £9m.

​Thanks for reading. If you value what we do and are able to support us, a digital subscription is just £1 for your first month. Try us today by clicking here