Football

I don't have any stats to hand, but Arsenal's youth academy makes money for the club, i.e. it is profitable.

Realistically, if an academy can produce one first team player every two seasons it is successful and if you can sell three or four players each summer then it should make enough money to cover the cost of the coaching staff.

Again no profit stats, but Spurs have brought through Steven Caulker, Danny Rose, Jake Livermore, Andros Townsend, Harry Kane recently. If an academy costs £500k pa to run (invented figure), there's a tidy little profit.

Given the chance that you may turn out a gem worth high 7 or even 8 figures, it's a more worthwhile investment than the average £500k player.