David Raya made his loan move from Brentford permanent as expected, while Riccardo Calafiori became Arsenal’s biggest signing of the summer in a deal worth up to £42m last week.
But their net outlay is still dwarfed by what the Kroenke regime sanctioned in both 2022-23 and 2023-24.
And while there is still plenty of time for those figures to rise, it is unlikely that Arsenal will buck the trend in the Premier League and pull of a truly blockbuster signing this summer.
Stan Kroenke, who welcomed Arsenal to his LA Rams’ SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles earlier in pre-season, wants his club to be self-sufficient in the long-term.
That means the Missouri-born billionaire is unlikely to bankroll major financial losses on too many more occasions in the future, especially while Arsenal’s rivals are also not making big transfer moves.
That means, for Arsenal to continue to spend big, they need to increase their revenue.
Arsenal seal new commercial deal; another expected soon
According to industry experts Sportcal, Arsenal’s sponsorship income for 2023-24 was just shy of £139m.
The club will not release their accounts for that season until early next year, but their total commercial income (sponsorship, merchandise, events) for 2022-23 was £173m.
That means that their total commercial income for 2023-24 will almost certainly set a new club record, which the club can expect to break once again in 2024-25.
Arsenals’ biggest deals with Adidas, Emirates and Visit Rwanda account for around £141m worth of annual sponsorship income, which makes their portfolio one of the least diversified in the Premier League.
However, the Gunners are attempting to address that by incrementally growing their sponsors in other areas – they have 27 in total.
Today, Arsenal have announced a new partnership with Athletic Brewing Company, a non-alcoholic drinks firm headquartered in the United States.
What’s more, sports business expert Łukasz Bączek has posted on X that Arsenal will follow that deal up with another commercial alliance soon.
With the three main sponsorship assets – kit, front-of-shirt and sleeve – claimed, it is unlikely that this coming deal will move the dial too much.
But more deals equals more revenue and greater security through pluralised income streams, and that will be welcome by Mikel Arteta and Edu as they look to channel that income into the playing budget.
TBR Analysis: How can Arsenal improve commercial income and fund bigger transfers?
Arsenal’s main commercial deals are on par with the rest of the so-called Big Six, and their new training ground naming rights deal with Sobha Realty will also help.
Last week, Arsenal co-chair Josh Kroenke also revealed that the internal discussions had been held about expanding the Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners’ home ground is a big matchday earner but, as the design itself is now 30 years old, it does not have the same commercial appeals as North London rivals’ Spurs stadium.
Upgrades to the Emirates may allow the club to renegotiate their naming rights partnership with Emirates, while enhanced on-site technology would also be appealing to new sponsors.
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