Final flourish

It's financial bonanza weekend for all of those English football teams contesting the league play-off finals at Wembley. Notwithstanding the now routine debate about why, when and how the new Wembley Stadium is being used, the main point of interest for many is the Championship Final (the winners of which will gain promotion to the supposed promised land: the Premier League). It has become ritual to dub this Final 'the £60 million match', as commentators believe the revenues a club can earn from one season in the PL will reach that sum. Is this true? Or has the figure rapidly become an urban myth? If it is true that the sum can be earned by staying in the PL for one season alone, what does the figure reveal about the revenue generating capacity of the PL's leading teams? Is PL promotion really such a bonanza? Consider promotion in a more balanced fashion: what costs are incurred as the result of promotion to the PL, and do the additional costs actually cancel out any financial windfall? What about the costs associated with signing the players a team is likely to need in order to guard against relegation from the PL? And their salaries? But there are other issues too, notably: faced with rapidly proliferating revenues and challenging cost control issues, to what extent does promotion to the PL engender any sense of strategic decision-making amongst promoted clubs? Amongst those clubs that do have an underpinning strategy, which is the best approach: a conservative business model? Aggressive player acquisition and remuneration? An on-field decision to win at all costs? Another approach? And how many promoted teams ultimately behave like a 'rabbit caught in headlights' rather than businesses needing to make some important commercial, financial and managerial decisions?