European Stadium Redevelopments: Football Clubs Hoping to Turn New Stadiums into Goldmines

As a wave of announcements about stadium redevelopments are sweeping across Europe, this commentary takes an in-depth look at the credit impact of these renovations.

Key highlights include:

-- The Europe-wide trend of football clubs renovating or rebuilding their stadiums is having a major impact on club financing.

-- New or substantially renovated stadiums are leading to revenue growth across the Big Five leagues.

-- We believe clubs will be able to use their extra cash flows on investments in their squads.

"Stadium redevelopments are shaking up club financing, with a move toward project finance models and long-term debt structures", says Manuel Gutiérrez, Vice President, Corporate Ratings. "Structures from top-tier clubs can achieve an investment-grade credit rating, provided the financing entity is a special-purpose bankruptcy-remote entity, backed by well-diversified and highly resilient stadium-related revenue streams."