Welcome to issue #033 of Contemporary Football, your inside look at how the game really works behind the scenes.
Monday to Friday, you’ll uncover a new perspective on football business, and sometimes a deeper story that sharpens your thinking and gives you an edge in the beautiful game.
If you need support on your football journey, just write me.
Hey everyone,
Crystal Palace is working on a £125m loan (over €140m) from Goldman Sachs.
The goal is simple:
Expand Selhurst Park from 26,000 to around 34,000 seats.
At 26,000 seats, Selhurst Park ranks as the fourth-smallest ground in the Premier League, with only Bournemouth, Brentford, and Burnley operating smaller venues.
That’s a financial operation that tells you a lot about how football is evolving.
The loan replaces an older financing line.
This one comes with better terms and longer maturity, aligned with the actual stadium works.
In short:
less pressure, more time, more control.
Look here…beautiful, isn’t it?
Why this matters more than it looks
Stadium projects are expensive.
And inflation hasn’t been kind.
What was initially estimated at £100m is now drifting beyond £150m.
That’s construction reality in 2025.
But Palace isn’t doing this to look big.
They’re doing it to stay competitive.
In the Premier League, if your matchday revenues stagnate, you fall behind.
Every year.
More seats mean more tickets, more hospitality, more flexibility.
Not tomorrow.
Over decades.
Debt is not the enemy (bad debt is)
This isn’t an isolated case.
Tottenham financed their stadium with debt
Barcelona did the same
Everton just raised £350m for Bramley-Moore Dock (below)
Newcastle is exploring a £1bn stadium project
Debt has become a tool.
Not a red flag.
The question is not if you borrow.
It’s what you borrow for and how predictable the returns are.
A stadium is one of the few assets in football that:
lasts 40–50 years
produces recurring cash flows
strengthens the club’s balance sheet
That’s why banks like it.
And that’s why clubs keep doing it.
The strategy behind Palace’s move
Crystal Palace knows exactly who they are.
They’re not trying to outspend the top six.
They’re not chasing shortcuts.
They’re reinforcing the foundation:
infrastructure
long-term revenue
financial resilience
This is how mid-table clubs survive in a league where costs keep rising and TV money alone isn’t enough anymore.
Let’s play a game.
Contemporary or old football?
Expanding a stadium to grow matchday revenue → Contemporary
Refinancing debt with better terms → Contemporary
Using infrastructure to reduce competitive gap → Contemporary
Trying to buy your way up the table instead?
That’s old football.
The Contemporary Football Take
What I like about this move is that it’s not loud.
Crystal Palace isn’t pretending to be something it’s not.
They’re acting like a club that understands one simple thing:
You don’t win the Premier League with loans.
We all know that.
But you lose relevance if you don’t invest in the basics.
Contemporary football isn’t about bold statements.
It’s about boring decisions made early enough.
This is one of them.
See you tomorrow, football friends,
Federico