After breaking the transfer spending record with a week to spare, Premier League clubs passed more significant milestones before the summer window closed Thursday.

EPL clubs spent $2.2 billion this summer — breaking the transfer fee record for the entire season ($2.16 billion) set in 2017-18, per ESPN and accounting firm Deloitte. 

Premier League clubs also proved to be the world’s biggest spenders, as their cumulative transfer fees during this window were more than those of Spain’s La Liga, Italy’s Serie A, and Germany’s Bundesliga combined. 

Several high-profile transfers in the final days pushed the EPL over the line.

• Brazilian winger Antony moved from Ajax to Manchester United for $104.5 million. 
• French defender Wesley Fofana went from Leicester City to Chelsea for $88.4 million.
• Swedish forward Alexander Isak moved from Real Sociedad to Newcastle United for $77 million.

Both Antony and Fofana’s fees exceeded that of Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez, who had previously held this window’s high mark at $82.5 million.

Premier League’s Pockets

According to Deloitte’s latest annual review of football finance, the Premier League earned $5.7 billion in the 2020-21 season, an 8% year-over-year increase, and is expected to have earned $6.4 billion during the 2021-22 season.

Deloitte anticipates the Premier League will make $6.95 billion (£6 billion) this season for the first time.

The Chicago Bears will present conceptual plans for a new stadium and entertainment district at an informational community meeting this week. 

In September 2021, the Bears signed a $197.2 million purchase agreement for the Arlington International Racecourse property — roughly 30 miles north of downtown Chicago. 

• The 326-acre property is the potential site for the new stadium.
• Team officials will present their plans at a local high school in Arlington Heights on Thursday. 

The Bears’ lease at Soldier Field — the team’s home since 1971 — runs until 2033. 

The team has an option to break that lease starting in 2026, but would be forced to pay an $84 million penalty to the city.

A Plan to Stay Put 

The Lakefront Museum Campus Working Group — led by Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot — has recommended that Chicago “explore the feasibility” of a dome atop Soldier Field. The project would allow Soldier Field to host major events like the Super Bowl and possibly keep the Bears within city limits.

Estimated costs for a dome range from $400 million to $1.5 billion, per Sports Business Journal.

Proposals have also included increasing the seating capacity of Soldier Field from 61,500 seats to 70,000.

When San Diego Wave FC hosts Angel City FC on Sept. 17, history will be made.

The NWSL’s two newest clubs will not only draw the largest attendance ever for one of the league’s games, but also play in front of a sold-out crowd for the very first NWSL game at Snapdragon Stadium.

• The club sold 32,000 tickets to the game — all of them 17 days before kickoff.
• The previous NWSL record of 25,218 attendees was set by the Portland Thorns in 2019.

The $310 million Snapdragon Stadium is owned by San Diego State University. The San Diego Wave, which was valued at more than $100 million in April, previously played at the 6,000-capacity Torero Stadium on the University of San Diego’s campus.

“We’ve sold all of our inventory, it’s incredible,” Wave president Jill Ellis said. “We should celebrate this, but we should now expect it, big crowds for women’s professional sports.”

Wave of Women’s Soccer

Ellis is right — the sold-out game isn’t the only one breaking women’s soccer attendance records.

The Women’s Euro 2022 was the best attended in the tournament’s history, with an aggregated attendance of 574,875.

Shortly after the Euro, England’s international friendly against the United States in October sold out general admission tickets, with a record 65,000 tickets sold in one day.

Australia wants to host a major soccer tournament, but it won’t be doing so next year.

The country has dropped out of the running to host the 2023 AFC Asian Cup but hopes to host the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup.

• Australia had filed an Expression of Interest statement for the 2023 tournament, as did South Korea, Indonesia, and Qatar.
• China was originally slated to host the summer tournament but bowed out to focus on suppressing COVID.
• Officials will select a new country for the 24-team tournament by Oct. 17.

The bid was contingent on government support and the Asian Football Confederation’s willingness to move the contest from June/July 2023 to January/February 2024, Football Australia CEO James Johnson said in July. 

Pivot to 2026

“Football Australia maintains its strong interest in bidding for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026 and will submit a formal and comprehensive bid to the Asian Football Confederation within the required timeline later this year,” Football Australia wrote.  

The 2022 Women’s Cup, hosted by India, drew 156 million unique viewers — up 63% from the 2018 tournament in Jordan.

The AFC’s World Cup qualifying matches topped 100 million viewers across each matchday, reaching more than 345 million unique viewers in total.