I’ve yet to see one clear article on it. All I’ve seen is “it costs a billion so that’s bad.”
What we really need to know is:
1. How much have we borrowed
2. Have we spent the 200m we had in the bank at the end of 2017
3. Over how many years is it repayable and how much do we repay per year
4. How much extra revenue is the stadium projected to generate per year
As I see it, 4 - 3 = our extra revenue (or deficit) while we pay the thing off and 4 = extra revenue after that time.
Because most people don't understand debt, especially at a large enterprise level.
- Us owing money on the stadium is not inherently a bad thing, debt can be easily managed, it will probably be over a long period of time.
- At minimum, I'd expect our (stadium related) income to double (but with Levy it could be considerably higher), via vastly expanded corporate facilities, sponsorship, NFL deal, additional events at WHL and expanded seating, additional income from store, food/drinks.
What the real conversation is (and numbers from Swiss Ramble backed up), is Spurs has (as a rule) refused to invest in the team by betting on future revenue (which has risk), we have used current revenue to pay current costs.
The real conversation between Poch and Levy now could be
- The stadium is pretty much done (should be no real surprises left)
- We know our costs, debt, payback structure
- We probably know a lot more (than anyone outside) re potential sponsorship, NFL, etc.
- We are a year ahead of schedule, and are pretty much CL regulars now
Are we willing and does it buy us anything, (i.e. do we believe a salary of "x" plus two top tier players would get Toby & Eriksen to stay, and do we believe those two players will make the gap between challenge and win?) to invest in both the current squad plus a few significant purchases either now or in summer?
Levy has always played the long game (and that is either beyond the comprehension or just not click bait enough for the media), but I don't think this investment was for Spurs to spend 3-5 years in the doldrums without sufficient squad funding, we saw the Scum experience and Levy is a much better businessman (and club chairman), the question is when, and is it soon enough to keep Poch and team on side with the project.