‘Broken all records’: Sunderland chief details major revenue boost from Premier League promotion

Sunderland have already seen a big commercial boost following promotion to the Premier League

Sunderland’s Chief Business Officer, David Bruce, has examined the impact of promotion to the Premier League on the club’s commercial revenue.

Bruce was a guest on the ‘Leaders worth knowing’ podcast this week, where he highlighted his role at the club as well as its return to the first division following an eight-year sabbatical. Bruce has played an important role in increasing the club’s off-pitch profits, which will help increase the playing budget for this season and beyond.

Bruce noted that the club’s retail division exceeded all records this summer during the Hummel kit introductions, and that sponsorship was already within budget for the year due to promotion.
“On the retail side, we brought fanatics and Hummel in,” Bruce explained.

‘We released our second collection with Hummel this summer, and it broke all records. We had a feeling they would because the city is poised to explode and there is so much excitement about the Premier League returning here. But when 500 people are routinely queuing outside the shop before it even opens, you know you’ve got a winner. The shirts tell volumes about the club and the city, and the work that Hummel and fans have done to sell them has been fantastic. We work both locally and abroad.

We get some input from fans on how we compare to other clubs, and what we find out is that we have a fanbase that is eager to purchase as soon as they become available. They’ve discovered through data analysis that what you get with Sunderland in the minutes and hours following a sale is unlike anything else. “We’ve sold out of season tickets for the first time since the Stadium of Light expanded nearly 20 years ago. They sold out within a day and a half of coming back on sale when we learned we were in the Premier League. We now have a waitlist and scarcity, which is a terrific thing for a sports company to have. It allows us and our customers to do a variety of things with tickets, including forwarding, resale, membership programs, and so on. We’ve sold out of premium options and are considering alternatives such as off-site hospitality. We’ve added three new premium places, which have virtually all sold out, and we still have some match-to-match availability.

“On the commercial side, it’s things like the front of the shirt and the value of LEDs in the Premier League, which can be essential anchors in any advertising package. We are currently on budget and running above budget, so we are delighted with where we are. It’s a lot of inbound activity, with people flocking to us because we’re a hot property. We have brand recognition because we have previously played in the Premier League, and when we haven’t, we have a fantastic documentary that has helped many people connect with the people and the area.”