How relegation could cost Spurs more than £250m

The prospect of one of the Premier League's six wealthiest clubs being relegated to the Championship should be essentially impossible, given the immense resouces they have at their disposal.

But with nine games left to play Tottenham Hotspur are just a point above 18th-placed West Ham, and in the kind of wretched run of form that makes it difficult to see where enough points are going to come from.

With Wolves and Burnley almost certainly set to occupy the bottom two places at the end of the season, and the likes of the Hammers, Nottingham Forest, and Leeds still at risk too, Spurs are by no means favourites for the drop.

But they are now at enormous risk.

So, what would be the financial impact on Spurs if the unthinkable really does happen?

Spurs earned £690m worth of income last year, according to data from the Uefa European club finance and investment landscape report, putting them ninth overall in Europe.

That income would take a serious hit if they were to drop into the Championship.

According to BBC Sport analysis, the reduction could be as much as £261m overall.

One key area in which they would be harmed is ticket revenue, which earned the club £130m, the fifth-highest across the continent.

Currently, Spurs charge an average of £76 per fan for each home match, with only five clubs in Europe costing more.

Since building their new stadium for around £1bn, Spurs have focused heavily on selling hospitality tickets and corporate packages for matches in order to maximise matchday takings.

But they will simply not be able to charge the same amount for an opening day fixture against a side like Lincoln City - who are currently chasing promotion from League One - in the second tier in August, should they ultimately finish in the bottom three, and a drop in attendances would likely occur too.

Elsewhere, Spurs' broadcast revenue would plummet too. They would no longer have access to the funds generated from the Premier League's lucrative domestic and international broadcast deals, which last year meant Ipswich Town earned more in broadcast revenue than Barcelona.

And the tens of millions they earn from Champions League TV income will drop to nothing, unless they manage to win the tournament, which would guarantee them a place in next year's competition even if they are playing second-tier football.

Furthermore, the club-record £269m of commercial income Spurs earned last year would likely take significant damage.

Sponsorships such as kit manufacturer Nike and front-of-shirt sponsors AIA's deals (worth around £70m combined annually) will have their values slashed thanks to relegation clauses.

Playing four more home matches in the Championship could also have an impact on Spurs' ability to host other lucrative events and concerts, which the club has heavily focused on.

"For a club of Spurs' ambitions and financial scale, relegation would not simply be a short-term sporting setback", says football finance expert Kieran Maguire. "The economics of English football make recovery a multi-year project."

Spurs lost £129m last year, according to the data, and the risk of even greater losses going forward if relegated is evident.

In some regards, Spurs' expenses would be reduced by dropping to the Championship. It has been widely reported, for example, that their players' contracts include a clause dropping their salaries by 50% in case of relegation.

If that clause is inserted into the contract of every player in the squad, then last year's record wage bill of £276m could be turned into £138m when the contractual period ticks over to the new season on 1 July.

But in a variety of other ways outgoings would remain the same, and potentially even rise.

One of the major financial issues clubs across the continent have been facing in recent years is rising operational costs, including things like utilities, transport, insurance, marketing, and administration.

Last year, Spurs had the third-highest operating costs in all of Europe, paying out £260m. That was a rise of £27m on the previous year, and the figure could rise again if essentials like energy prices continue to increase in the wider global economy.

Many of those day-to-day operating bills won't simply be reduced by playing at a lower level - the price for powering the stadium for a night match against Norwich City in the Championship is the same as doing so for Newcastle in the Premier League.

Spurs also had 877 full-time employees last year, an increase of 57 on the previous year, giving them the 12th-biggest workforce in Europe.

Barring a cull of that workforce, Spurs will have to keep paying top-tier European salaries while not even playing in the English top flight.

In recent years Spurs have been simultaneously lauded for being one of the most sustainably-run clubs in Europe, while also drawing criticism from fans for not using more of their revenue to pay higher wages.

Some believe that the financial peril that plummeting to the Championship would bring is partly due to a reluctance to take financial risks in recent years.

"I would say money," ex-Spurs winger Gareth Bale told The Overlap podcast when asked why the club finds itself at such great risk of relegation.

"Look at the wage bill - it's lower [than other clubs with big ambitions].

"They always seem to buy young and hope they're going to grow into something bigger, which has worked in the past with me and a few other players, but they're an established club now.

"They have the stadium, they have the training ground, they have the fan base. They need to be buying bigger players, maybe paying a bit more. It's that bit of a gamble that you maybe need to take that, from a business point of view, they're not willing to do.

"For me that's probably the biggest issue - they don't sign the finished player.

"A £50 million player is not what it used to be. You have to be spending £80m, £90m, £100m now just to get a good player.

"It's like they just need to gamble a bit more, other clubs are more willing to take a risk financially."