Premier League clubs reportedly made a combined loss of almost 600 million pounds in the 2018-19 season even before they were hit with the inevitable financial crisis caused by due to the COVID-19 pandemic which has forced the 2019-20 season to be suspended for three months.

A report from football finance experts Vysyble showed that the 20 top-flight English clubs suffered a combined loss of 599.54 million pounds despite earning record revenue of over five billions pounds.

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The clubs are set to suffer a major financial setback this season as well, even though the league has planned to finish the remaining part of the season smoothly behind closed doors.

The Premier League clubs are reportedly set to pay a huge combined sum of 330 million pounds rebate to the broadcasters for not being able to finish the season as scheduled. Several reports have further stated that the amount will increase by 35 million pounds for every week the season extends beyond July 26.

“The COVID-19 virus is not the cause of football’s financial distress. It is merely the accelerant on what our data has very clearly and very correctly identified as a much longer-term problem,” said Vysyble director Roger Bell as quoted by Watford Observer.

“The 2018/19 numbers are a disturbing and profoundly worrying financial outcome from England’s senior football divisions and is symptomatic of the deeper issues with the overall financial model.

“The 2018-19 numbers are a disturbing and profoundly worrying financial outcome from England’s senior football divisions and is symptomatic of the deeper issues with the overall financial model which we have highlighted many times previously.

“With record losses at club level for 2018-19 and just 36 per cent of Premier League clubs achieving an annual economic profit since 2009, the perception of the Premier League as ‘football’s richest division’ is clearly challenged,” Bell added.

Meanwhile, the United Kingdom government in the last week of May gave the Premier League the approval to resume the 2019-20 season on June 17 but asserted that all the health guidelines and social distancing measures be strongly adhered to.

The government, in fact, gave a green light to all forms of sports to restart from June 1 as the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) published the ‘Stage Three’ guidance.

The revised list of fixtures were released earlier this week that will see Aston Villa and Sheffield United taking on each other in the first Premier League match after the COVID-19 lockdown on June 17. Later in the day, Manchester City and Arsenal will also face each other.