Hong Kong Premier League: clubs made just HK$4.65 million in gate receipts from 151 matches last season, officials say
- Clubs split cash for first time under new committee approach, and hope to generate 10 per cent more revenue next season
- Southern boss Chan Man-chun says game needs to improve so fans will want to watch
Hong Kong’s 10 top-flight football clubs made just HK$4.65 million in gate receipts between them last season, officials revealed on Thursday.
With a total of 151 league and cup matches played, that works out at HK$30,794 a game (US$3,942). All the clubs have multimillion dollar budgets.
The Hong Kong Premier League Committee, which was set up last season by the clubs, outlined the financial state of play on Thursday, and officials said they were hoping for stronger results in the new season, which starts next month with the Sapling Cup.
And Chan Man-chun, chairman of top-flight side Southern and convenor of the committee, called on the city’s clubs to work together to produce a better standard of football, which he hoped would attract more fans.
“We want a 10 per cent increase in gate receipts for the new season,” Chan said. “The product is always the most important thing to attract the fans and in terms of football, it’s the quality of the games.
“We hope the clubs can continue to invest and bring more quality players to make the Premier League more exciting.”
In the past, gate receipts were kept by the home team for league matches and shared in cup competitions, meaning sides such as Kitchee and Lee Man invariably made more than some of the bottom clubs.
One of the committee’s first tasks when it formed was to introduce a shared revenue system.
After deducting costs for ground hire and other expenses the teams shared HK$2.97 million, although that pot was swollen by prize money and sponsorship cash, with clubs getting between HK$380,000 and HK$710,000.
“Kitchee and Eastern were the two that suffered the most through sharing revenue as they were more popular and generated more gate receipts,” Chan said.
“But only if the teams work together, can we promote local football as a big business and generate more financial support from the business world.”
BC Rangers executive director Philip Lee Fai-lap, whose club was one of four to get more than HK$600,000, thanked the committee for the income, but said it hardly made a dent in the side’s HK$7 million annual budget.
“At least we received some income from last season, unlike before when we always lost money in our home games because of low attendance,” he said. “This is just the beginning and we hope the committee can have more initiatives to generate more income for the clubs.”
Separately, Joaquin Tam, the Hong Kong Football Association CEO, said they planned to start the new season with the Sapling Cup on August 19, with the league getting under way on September 1.
