Newcastle can gain financially, IF they sign Ben Arfa.
Posted on August 14th, 2010 | 138 Comments |
Well it is, sort of, but I am more using his name to lauch into another tangent of thought, although these same thoughts can be applied to any player of a certain ilk in fairness.
As a fan, when you look at a transfer, all that we generally tend to look for is how much it cost and how much the player is getting paid in wages. That doesn’t change the fact that they are still assets though. Sulky, moody assets in the case of Ben Arfa, but an asset all the same. In many cases, money can be made by signing a player who pleases a crowd.
Go to any football game and you will see replica shirts all over the place, Newcastle fans are notorious for it in fact. Some of them have names on the back of the shirt, but there are a lot that don’t, and much like an empty advertising board, it is a space that gives the club an avenue to claw back some money on a transfer.
A player like Ben Arfa is likely to be a signing that pleases people, which in turn will make them part with their money. It happens quite often, all over the place, and it is called merchandising.
Now I am willing to bet that if Ben Arfa does end up signing for us, then there will be a fair few people who will go and get his name on the back of their shirt. With the letters costing somewhere around £1 each then it is easy to see there is an opportunity to make a killing. If 100,000 people get the name of Ben Arfa on the back of the shirt then the speculated loan fee has just paid for itself.
Perhaps 100,000 people is stretching it a bit, so how about another avenue for potential revenue? I am talking about ticket sales.
The days of guaranteed sell out crowds at St James’ Park have passed by at the moment, but they can be boosted by signing players who people will pay to watch. People will have seen video clips of Ben Arfa and will know from them what he is capable of on the football field. Even if he can’t reproduce that on Tyneside in the long-term, people will still initially go along to have a look. An extra 20,000 seats sold throughout the season, 1,000 each home game, will pay for his loan fee, and that is without anyone bothering with those shirt names.
Those are just two potential revenue streams that can justify the outlay on Ben Arfa. I hope that both of my scenarios arise if the Frenchman does end up as a player on Tyneside. If they do then perhaps Mike Ashley can see the benefit of signing players who can please a crowd.
The downside is that they generally cost a bit more than the average plodder, but if there is a benefit to it that can outweigh at least the transfer fee then surely it would make sense for the club?
Financial preaching over.
NUFCBlog Author: toonsy
toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.
Get ready for photo in toon shirt on official site.
Benny boy