https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/24/worl ... teams.html
You can access this article for free by registering with the NY Times. Covers the experience of investors in the NLN (South Shields) and NLS ( Eastbourne).
Combined losses of all three NL divisions was $25m last year. Simon Leslie has invested $600k so far at Eastbourne and expects to do the same next season. Eastbourne are currently 22nd. South Shields wage bill is $1.2m and not even the highest in the division. The owner has invested $10m to date and is now looking to sell. South Shields are currently 11th. As has been pointed out elsewhere on this forum, the proposed Football Regulator will not cover tier 6 teams. Financial Fair Play does not apply at our level either. The only real money to be made is if you can win promotion to the EFL where TV revenue can be meaningful. To get there now requires the sort of investment probably beyond even the merely extremely wealthy. Getting there via financial sustainability is going to be a very long haul indeed.
It will be interesting to see who takes over at Torquay. They clearly have a size and history that could see them back in the EFL at some point but it might require reforming like Aldershot and Wimbledon and starting again from the bottom unless their current owner writes off his £5m loan. I doubt he will be so generous so someone may need to invest a sizeable sum just to avoid losing the NLS place.
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