Sunderland owners in line for €90m bonus

THE Irish consortium that owns Sunderland football club is in line a for a pay day of almost €90 million when the Black Cats are officially promoted to the Premiership on Sunday.

Sunderland are guaranteed a return to top flight football just after being relegated to the Championship in 2006/2007 with the lowest points tally recorded. The jump to the Premiership will see the club reap millions from broadcast revenues, prize money and other sponsorship deals.

Sunderland was bought less than a year by the Drumaville consortium, which is fronted by Niall Quinn, who acts as the club’s chairman. The other members of the consortium are well-known Dublin publicans Louis FitzGerald and Charlie Chawke, builders Paddy Kelly, Jack Tierney, Patsy Byrne, Patrick O’Beirne and Sunderland businessman John Hays.

They paid nearly €15m up front to buy Sunderland, acquiring the shares of then chairman Bob Murray and other investors. The consortium also assumed the club’s debt mountain of nearly €60m, which was built up in the 1990s during the construction of the Stadium of Light.

At the time of the takeover last July, Sunderland was making heavy losses, dropping £7.8m (€11.4m) in the 2004/2005 season on turnover of £25m (€36.5m).

But figures from consultants Deloitte show the three Championship sides promoted on Sunday will get about €50m in revenues for the 2007/2008 season from the share of broadcasting rights.

In the last few weeks, Sunderland has also inked a number of commercial and sponsorship agreements.

Last month it signed a four-year deal making Irish bookmakers Boylesports its shirt sponsor, believed to be worth €15m.

It also agreed a new seven figure deal with kit maker Umbro and is has also linked up with the Britannia building society to offer loans and mortgages. Other club sponsors include brewer Scottish & Newcastle and Lonsdale. Mr Quinn has been attempting to cash in on his Irish connections by organising a pre-season tour here to widen Sunderland’s fan base. The club is also tempting fans to sign up for season tickets by offering them the chance to pay in interest-free installments.

The Black Cats can also look forward to share of Premiership prize money in the 2007/2008. Even if the club fails to stay in the Premier League it will still be in line for “parachute” payments, according to Paul Rawnsley, director of the Sports Business Group at Deloitte.

“Even if the club is relegated after one year in the top flight, parachute payments worth over €14.7m per season will be received for two more seasons,” he said.

Based on the Deloitte figures and the other commercial agreements, the Drumaville team have already recouped their investment in the club, though this is before any spending on player transfers that will be necessary before the start of the 2007/2008 season in August.

Manager Roy Keane is likely to need at least €15m to spend in the transfer market. Sunderland were 23rd out of 24 teams in the Championship when Keane joined as a rookie coach.