Manchester City’s elimination from the Champions League could have cost the city as much as £1.3million, according to new figures.
The report, compiled by OneFootball and GoEuro.co.uk, estimates that a run to the Champions League semi-finals is worth as much as £4million to a home city’s economy.
The Champions League final, which will this year head to Berlin, generates more than £25million pounds in revenue for the city’s businesses and travel companies.
However, qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League has earned Manchester as much as £2.7million through spending and visiting fans compared to around £25million of prize money earned by the club.
This is however a drop in the ocean of revenue generated by Champions League football, which according to this study amounts in total to almost £170million, a figure which does not include ticket prices or prize money.
The total prize fund for the 2014-15 Champions League dwarfs even that figure, as the clubs divide up among themselves near £800million in prize money, with winners Real Madrid pocketing nearly £50million.
Man City’s European journey was this year ended by Barcelona once again, having lost to the Spanish side 4-1 on aggregate in the 2013-14 last 16.
Despite Joe Hart’s late penalty save this year to deny Lionel Messi, City were unable to recover from the 2-1 deficit when they travelled to the Camp Nou.
Main image courtesy of Alex Morton/Action Images, with thanks.
