ALBION bosses have revealed the impact the club’s meteoric rise has had on Brighton.

Chairman Tony Bloom said yesterday the city and club had become a “global player”.

He said: “When we were working to get plans for the new stadium we estimated the value for the local economy would be £23million and it would provide 750 jobs.

“Even when we were in the Championship it was far higher than that, but in our first season in the Premier League our economic value was more than £200 million.

“The club’s rise is a huge thing for Brighton and Hove making it very recognisable and bringing people into the city.”

The impact of the club’s rise to the biggest league in the world has been revealed in a 40-page report this week.

The report, produced by regeneration experts Marshall Regen in partnership with the University of Chichester, shows the club will have boosted the local economy by more than half a billion pounds in three Premier League seasons.

During the 2017-2018 season Albion’s televised games also reached a global audience of 102 million and the club supported 2,200 jobs, making it the city’s fifth biggest employer.

New head coach Graham Potter joined the chairman as well as deputy chairman Paul Barber and executive director Martin Perry in celebrating the club’s success over the last two decades.

In 1997, Albion narrowly avoided relegation from the Football League and lost its permanent home of 95 years at the Goldstone Ground, instead playing home matches at Gillingham – 70 miles from the city.

But in the 2017-2018 season Albion’s revenue soared to £147.3million, making it the 29th highest earning football club in the world.

This included £62.2million from domestic broadcasting, £46.5million from overseas broadcasting, £15.5million in matchday ticket sales, £10.6million for other commercial activities and £6million from stadium and training ground sponsorship.

At a meeting yesterday Albion bosses said Brighton and Hove City Council had "not helped" the club by charging broadcasters to film in the city, saying they were missing out on the "biggest advert Brighton and Hove can get free of charge".

Despite the fact that matchday tickets made up just 10 per cent of overall revenue, the club still boasted filling an average of 99 per cent of its capacity at Premier League home games, hosting 678,500 fans in that time.

Mr Bloom said: “We realised our vision in 2011 and this report now shows that we have more than delivered on all of our promises and provides evidence of the huge economic and social benefits to the Greater Brighton region which have accrued since our promotion to the Premier League in 2017, 20 years after we first set out what we were trying to achieve.

“I am extremely proud of those achievements.

“We did not just deliver a Premier League stadium, we have also delivered world class training facilities which have been visited by clubs from all over Europe and beyond.”

“We have built a team that we can be proud of and who have just secured our third season in the Premier League. We have accumulated along the way a wonderful, hard-working and loyal workforce.”

who run the club with skill and the very highest standards of professionalism

But it is not just through football the club brought income to the area.

When the Amex is used for large events such as music concerts there is a direct economic impact to the area of about £4million, the report says.

Executive director Martin Perry announced that, with its increased revenue, the club had contributed a total of £54million to the exchequer through income tax, VAT and business rates.

He said this amount could be used to build nine primary schools, buy 350 new Routemaster buses or pay the salaries of 2,100 band six nurses.