Arsenal managing director Keith Edelman says the English premier league soccer club will enjoy the world's biggest gate receipts when its new Emirates Stadium opens next season.
Edelman today said premium season ticket and executive box sales had gone well for the 60,0000-seater ground which Arsenal will swap for the
38,000-capacity Highbury.
Arsenal, which announced net debts of £153 million ($392.66 million) last September for the year ending May, 2005, is spending £390m on a stadium project which Edelman said would leave the club in better financial shape.
"When we move to the new stadium we will be much better off than we were at Highbury," he said.
"(Even after servicing the debt), immediately we will be earning more money than we would at Highbury."
Part of the equation will be the cost of watching games at the Emirates Stadium, which will be equipped with electronic boards and more than 500 high definition TV screens.
"Our gate income will probably be the highest gate income in the world because we've got 60,000 fans and we've got higher-priced tickets and more premium tickets than any other club in the UK," Edelman said.
"Sales of boxes have finished and sales of (the 6700) club level seats are progressing very rapidly -- we're down to a few hundred and we'd expect to sell out before the season starts."
Looking to ahead to the conversion of their current home into flats, christened Highbury Square, Edelman added: "When we finalise the proceeds of the Highbury development clearly ... our debt will fall in 2009/10 to an even lower level."
Edelman expects the new ground to accommodate 45,000 Arsenal season ticket holders, about 12,000 Arsenal club members buying individual match tickets and 3000 away fans.
- REUTERS
