A €100m adventure - breaking down AC Milan's Champions League revenue [Bonus article]
A €100m adventure - breaking down AC Milan's Champions League revenue [Bonus article]
AC Milan knocked Tottenham out of the Champions League and thus secured their spot in the quarter-finals, winning the tie 1-0 on aggregate. It’s an achievement that deserves a lot of praise and the Rossoneri can also expect a good payout at the end of it, more specifically north of €100m.
Few expected Stefano Pioli’s men to make it this far in the tournament, having finished last in their UCL group last season. This season, however, they did very well in the group stage and have continued to show their qualities in the knockout phase, even if Tottenham clearly have a lot to work on.
But it’s certainly worth mentioning that across 180 minutes plus stoppages, Tottenham had maybe 1 or 2 good chances to score. Milan, on the other hand, had several clear-cut ones but struggled with their finishing. In any case, the point is that the Rossoneri’s defence really neutralised the opponents.
Given the club’s budget salary-wise, and also based on the transfer fees spent, it’s a huge success for Milan and this will give them a good payout revenue-wise. In fact, the whole Champions League adventure has generated over €100m in revenue, and the total figure could still rise.
To understand the revenue made we must first dive into the prize-money system that UEFA have for the Champions League. The easiest one to start with is the participation bonus, which is given to all the teams that make it to the group stage, worth a total of €15.64m.
There is also a historical bonus that is handed out to all of the teams. Given Milan’s history in the competition, they will receive a total of €14.8m for this season’s edition. Moving on to the more complicated bonuses, we have the so-called market pools, named 1 and 2. The values of these are determined by the television market in each nation.
Market pool 1 is decided by the Serie A standings of 2021/22, which in Milan’s case is great since they won the Scudetto last season. Market pool 2, on the other hand, is based on many games Milan will play in this season’s UCL compared to the other Italian teams (Inter, Napoli and Juventus). Pool number 2, therefore, is yet to be decided and will likely rise.
Moving on, Milan will also receive achievement bonuses for their results in the group stage as they won three, drew one and lost two games. A win is worth €2.8m and a draw is worth €0.930m. Compared to last season, it’s like night and day as they won just one and drew one then.
Finally, Milan will get additional bonuses for each round they make it through to. Having now reached the quarters, they have secured an extra €10.6m. The entire breakdown can be found below and is based on official UEFA documents, compiled by Calcio e Finanza.
Champions League prize money breakdown
Participation Bonus = €15.6m
Historical ranking = €14.8m
Market pool 1 = €8m
Market pool 2 = €4.8m (at least)
Achievement bonuses = €9.3m
Round of 16 = €9.6m
Quarter-finals = €10.6m
Draw bonuses = €0.7m
Fine FFP = -€2m
Total = €71.4m
The total revenue that Milan will collect from this season’s Champions League doesn’t just end there, though. In fact, we also must factor in the revenue from the ticket sales as these figures are significant. For the game against Tottenham, for example, the Rossoneri collected €9.1m and a similar figure (roughly) is also expected for the home leg in the quarters.
The ticket revenue from each of the UCL home games this season can be found below and are based on official data provided by Milan to the media.
Ticket revenue breakdown
Milan vs. Dinamo Zagreb = €3m
Milan vs. Chelsea = €6.8m
Milan vs. Salzburg = €4.6m
Milan vs. Tottenham = €9.1m
Milan vs. Napoli = €8-9m (likely)
Total = €32m (estimate)
In total, combining the prize money with the ticket sales, Milan will receive around €103.4m from their Champions League adventure. A figure that is a fantastic example of just how important the competition is for a club like the Rossoneri. Of course, it could be even more if they were to make it through to the semi-finals (additional round bonus of €12.5m plus market pool and ticket sales).
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though, but instead enjoy what Milan have secured thus far. The draw for the quarter-finals will take place at 12:00 CET on Friday next week and notable possible opponents include Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Inter, Man City and Real Madrid. No matter who Milan will get, though, it will be a challenge.