How much is an FA Cup run worth in terms of prize money, TV license fees and other revenue to Newport County, who face Manchester United in a David versus Goliath clash this weekend? City AM has done the math.

For League Two football clubs on the brink of bankruptcy, attending a sold-out FA Cup match against a Premier League giant is a rare lifeline for club finances.

Newport County host Manchester United on Sunday and, regardless of the result, significant revenue from the competition’s prize fund and live coverage on BBC One will boost the club’s hopes of avoiding further defeats at the end of the season.

The Welsh club are expected to receive around £315,000 from the draw against Manchester United, in the form of a guaranteed fee of £110,000 for selection for live broadcast and more than £200,000 for reaching the fourth round of the FA Cup.

The fourth-division club will continue to increase its revenue from ticket sales and could also capitalise on its big moment in the spotlight with additional sponsorship deals, as other clubs have done in the past.

Newport recently expanded the capacity of their home ground to maximise matchday revenue. The club has built an additional temporary stand at their leased stadium, Rodney Parade, increasing the maximum attendance to over 9,000.

The last derby against coveted rivals Wrexham AFC gave an indication of the number of fans that will attend the United game. 9,537 fans saw Newport win 1-0, with 1,400 of them cheering on Wrexham, now owned by Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

Tickets for Newport’s FA Cup match sold out within 45 minutes and the club closed its ticket office on Monday after abuse was directed at staff due to the rush to see the spectacular match.

The club has tried to capitalise on demand by increasing prices for the game. Regular adult tickets cost £30, while seniors and children have been offered cheaper tickets. But Newport will not be able to keep all the revenue.

FA Cup rules state that home teams must share the gate receipts with their opponents, with each club receiving 45 percent of the gate receipts. The remaining 10 percent goes to the Football Association, which redistributes the funds within the playing pyramid.

One of the few previous occasions on which Newport have crammed more than 9,000 fans into Rodney Parade was also an FA Cup fourth round match, against Tottenham Hotspur in 2018. That time, Newport held Tottenham to a 1-1 draw and forced a replay, a feat they would no doubt be keen to repeat this Sunday.

Should fate repeat itself, Newport would get a game at England’s biggest club stadium, Old Trafford, which would mean extra money from the broadcast and an even bigger profit from gate receipts for the 74,000-capacity stadium.

The story continues

How much is an FA Cup run worth and what can it bring to the clubs?

Such cup wins and the money that comes with them can have a lasting impact. Sutton United achieved promotion to the Football League for the first time in 2021, four years after reaching the fifth round of the FA Cup, where they hosted Arsenal.

For Newport, the timing of an important FA Cup match against United couldn’t be better.

The club, currently 14th in League Two, posted losses of £1.2 million at the end of last season and projections for this season’s cash flow do not show much improvement.

This week, Newport received approval from the league’s executive committee for a takeover by former Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins, who already had the blessing of the supporters’ club, the current majority owner.

If Newport can shock Manchester United, they would still be one round away from repeating Grimsby Town’s FA Cup success of last year.

Grimsby became the first fourth-tier team to reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, earning £500,000 in prize money and an estimated £1 million in total winnings. The League Two side lost 5-0 away to Brighton.

Grimsby are 19th this season and their failure to repeat their cup performance from last year is a warning to Newport not to get carried away with their run.