How much would it cost to buy Brighton & Hove Albion?
In Tony Bloom, Brighton & Hove Albion have one of the best owners in English football. Bloom has supported the Albion for his entire life, made millions of pounds from the gambling industry and is now in the privileged position whereby he can pump his vast personal wealth into his boyhood club.
Under Bloom’s chairmanship, Brighton have gone from fighting relegation in League One at a rented athletics track with a stadium capacity of under 9,000 to competing in the Premier League in the magnificent Amex Stadium. All funded by Bloom, of course.
Having new owners is thankfully something that Albion fans don’t have to concern themselves with. But imagine for a second that we did. Say a rich sheikh, a Russian oligarch or someone like these lottery winners who bought their football club came along and wanted to buy Brighton from Bloom. How much would it cost?
A lot of money is the answer. According to a report from the University of Liverpool, the Albion were valued at £224 million at the end of the 2017-18 season after completing their first campaign in the mega-rich Premier League.
That amount will no doubt have increased after two more seasons of top flight income in 2018-19 and 2019-20. A fourth successive Premier League season in 2020-21 will push up the value further still.
Of course, what the numbers bods value Brighton at is only part of the equation. Tony Bloom has sunk over £350 million of his own personal fortune into the Albion, paying for the Amex and the American Express Elite Performance Centre at Lancing to be built and investing heavily on the playing side.
In 2018-19, Brighton recorded a financial loss of £21.2 million. Even with the riches that come with being a Premier League club, the Albion still leaked money. No prizes for guessing who dipped into his pockets to cover those losses either – it was Bloom, of course.
If Bloom were ever to sell, any price would have to at least cover what he has put into Brighton since taking over officially as chairman in 2009.
Unofficially, we know that Bloom was signing the cheques as long ago as 2007, when the Albion suddenly found themselves capable of paying £300,000 to Rochdale for Glenn Murray 18 months after they struggled to get together £8,000 to sign Alex Revell from Braintree.
Bloom’s total investment stands at around £350 million. Any buyer would need to match that amount simply to make sure that Bloom gets his money back; if Bloom wanted to turn a profit from his decade-long spell as chairman, then suddenly the cost of buying Brighton spirals. You could be looking at a price in excess of £500 million.
For context, the Abu Dhabi United Group paid a reported £200 million for Manchester City in September 2008. Brighton of course famously eliminated the newly-minted richest club in the world from the League Cup on penalties a few weeks later, despite their being a two-division gap between the sides and many, many millions of pounds.
A more relevant example might come from the attempted Saudi takeover at Newcastle United. The Magpies and Brighton share many similarities in terms of their recent Premier League performances. Had that deal been completed, then Mike Ashley would have received £300 million for his shares.
When you see that figure, you realise how unlikely it is that Bloom would even consider selling Brighton at any point in the near future. Not only would it mean he walks away having made a significant loss from his 11 years of chairmanship, but it also offers nothing in terms of a sweetener to tempt a lifelong Albion fan from giving up the dream of owning the club that he loves.
Which is no bad thing. As we have already said, Bloom is one of the best owners in English football. While an outsider might arrive with billions of pounds and promises of turning Brighton into a club who can win the Premier League title, there is also the risk that you end up with a complete charlatan in charge who drives the club into the ground.
Having already had one owner who sold the Goldstone Ground and tried to kill off the Albion to pocket the profits, Brighton fans know better than most about the dangers that come with having your club put into the hands of someone with no attachment to it.
That will never happen again all the while Bloom owns Brighton. While it is true that everything has its price, the value that Bloom puts on the Albion should ensure that no outside investors can afford to take the club off his hands.
Brighton will remain as Tony Bloom’s blue and white army for some time yet.
