Sunderland ‘hurt’ by recent merchandise development – Exclusive
Sunderland’s chief business officer recently revealed that one in 15 shirts worn at the Stadium of Light is counterfeit.
Sunderland remain on track to achieve promotion back to the Premier League, and if achieved, it will provide them with a huge financial boost.
With seven huge games to go, Sunderland need to win as many as possible and enter the playoffs with as much momentum as they can.
While the financial aspect of promotion is massive, the Mackems rake in plenty of other income from different sources, though a recent update shared on the purchasing of club merchandise is detrimental to their books.
Finance expert explains impact of Sunderland counterfit shirts
Finances have been a talking point at Sunderland throughout the season, though Bruce recently spoke to the Northern Echo explaining that one in every 15 shirts worn on Wearside is fake, with Dan Plumley explaining the impact that will have on their financial status.
The finance expert – when speaking to Mackem News – said: “There are no kind of direct numbers in terms of the financial impact.
“If you look at how the deals are structured within the clubs, it’s unlikely that they’re taking a huge amount out of shirt sales anyway.
| Championship | W | D | L | P |
| Sunderland (4th) | 20 | 12 | 7 | 72 |
“But the deal from club to shirt provider is the one that the provider pays for, and then the shirt provider takes the bulk of the shirt sales, so it does hurt the club a little bit. It will also hurt the shirt providers and the manufacturers.
“That’s the other side we should be considering. So it won’t be a huge number, but it will hurt a little bit because of course the clubs want the fans buying their official merchandise, especially if you’ve got your production in-house and you are taking all the money out of it, which a few clubs do, but, but not all of them.
“Really tricky to put a number on that, but it will hurt the shirt manufacturers as well, because they’re the ones that are paying the club for the deal and then are taking the bulk of the shirt sales.“
Sunderland can do nothing about counterfeit sales
As beneficial as it would be for Sunderland to sell more official merchandise, the prices matched with the cost of living make counterfeit options far more feasible to supporters in certain scenarios.
In terms of the impact of that, it will be minimal, though, unless promotion is achieved, the Black Cats will be looking to make the most out of every financial aspect that they can.