Premier League club Chelsea have been impacted by the UK government's decision to impose sanctions on their owner Roman Abramovich, with reverberations sent through the club in March 2022.
The British authorities slapped stringent financial constraints on Abramovich's assets, which includes the Stamford Bridge club, and it means that the Russian billionaire is unable to sell up - for now, at least.
However, tremors are also being felt all the way down to the nuts and bolts, with the day-to-day running of the club - getting to games, selling tickets, selling merchandise and so on - affected.
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One particular example of the strict measures is the fact that Chelsea are restricted to spending a maximum of £20,000 ($26,000) on travel to or from fixtures. We take a look at how much it costs for a Premier Lague club to get to away games in England and further afield.
How much does it cost a club to travel to an away game?
The cost of travel to and from away games for football clubs varies depending on a number of factors, but the bill tends to run into thousands of pounds, with that figure rising for games in UEFA competitions such as the Champions League.
Chelsea have been restricted to spending a sum "not exceeding the value of £20,000 per game per club team" by the British government, but does that figure adequately cover it?
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The short answer is: no. So how much does it usually cost?
Hugo Scheckter, who was involved in player care at West Ham and Southampton, says that a conservative estimate of the average cost stands at approximately £30,000 per away game.
That cost includes things such flights, coach or train travel, security, hotel accommodation and food.
"Going abroad, [I] don't see how [Chelsea] can do anything other than either commercial flights or drive their bus and significant drop in standard of hotel," Scheckter posted on Twitter. "Will make a big impact."
For context, a usual Premier League away game with a flight, security, food, hotels etc would be about £30k. Going abroad, don’t see how they can do anything other than either commercial flights or drive their bus & significant drop in standard of hotel. Will make a big impact. https://t.co/23bSQuMA40
— Hugo Scheckter (@HugoScheckter) March 10, 2022
The cost for a Chelsea team to travel to a game in the Champions League, as they must for their upcoming knockout game against Lille, would be significantly higher than £20,000 again.
Why does it cost so much? In the case of Chelsea, consider that a panel of 21 players and six coaching staff will usually go to every game. In addition, about 10 support staff will make the journey, though some will go separately, via their own routes. Either way, that amounts to a total of nearly 40 different people who must be ferried and then put up for the night, not to mention fed.
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Then they have a return journey as well. At the lower end of the spectrum, in a budget hotel, it might cost up to £4,000 a night for a party of 40 people. However, Premier League footballers tend to stay at luxury hotels, so accommodation alone eats significantly in to that £20,000 limit. Add to that the cost of funding a private jet along with a security detail and catering for elite athletes, and the £20,000 budget may not stretch so far.
The UK government could conceivably raise that limit slightly, but, in the event that it remains the same, Chelsea's logisitics team will have their work cut out to arrange affordable and comfortable travel to games.
Travel on commercial flights now looks like a real a possibility for Chelsea, while the players and staff may have to begin to get accustomed to lesser quality hotels.
