Super models?

Early season estimates indicated that teams reaching the semi-finals of this season's UEFA Champions League could generate upwards of Euros 60 million from the achievement (winning the Final could be worth as much as Euros 110 million). In one sense therefore, Arsenal, Barcelona, Chelsea and Manchester United will be pleased to have reached this stage of the competition. However, one has to ask whether getting to the semi-finals is desirable or a necessity for the clubs, especially as each of them is carrying a significant amount of debt? In other words, to what extent are the business models of the four clubs still involved in the competition premised on the need to at least secure a semi-final place? If they had reached the quarter-finals, if they had failed to progress from the group phase, just how significantly might this have affected their business models? And if such clubs actually failed to qualify for the Champions League, especially in consecutive seasons, would their business models thus become unsustainable?