Europe’s soccer market grew by 8 per cent in terms of revenue in the 2023-24 season to 38 billion euros ($43.46 billion) with England’s Premier League generating the most, Deloitte said in a study published on Wednesday.
In its Annual Review of Football Finance, Deloitte said the top five leagues – Premier League, Bundesliga, LaLiga, Serie A and Ligue 1 – generated 20.4 billion euros in revenue, an increase of 4 per cent.
Premier League clubs had the highest revenue of Europe’s top leagues at 6.3 billion pounds ($8.50 billion).
However, the traditional ‘big six’ clubs in England’s top flight reported lower average revenue growth (3 per cent) than other clubs that were in the Premier League in both the 2023-24 and 2022-23 seasons (11 per cent).
The study said the growth was largely driven by expansion of clubs’ commercial offerings, which also led to the teams cumulatively generating more than two billion pounds in commercial revenue for the first time.
“A focus on stadia development and diversification of commercial revenues led to growth across the European football market in the 2023-24 season,” Tim Bridge, lead partner in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, said.
“However, clubs and leagues cannot afford to take their eye off the ball as new challenges, including an evolving regulatory landscape and changing fan behaviours, arise.
“The pressure is mounting for more clubs to drive additional revenue at the same time as managing rising costs.
“More so than ever, leaders and owners must recognise the great responsibility they have of managing these businesses, capturing the historic essence of a football club while honouring its unrivalled role as a community asset for generations to come.”
Clubs in Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues reported an aggregate operating profit (0.6 billion euros) for a second successive season, while the aggregate wages/revenue ratio fell from 66 per cent to 64 per cent.
WSL REVENUE SOARS
Clubs in England’s Women’s Super League (WSL) jointly generated revenue of 65 million pounds in the 2023-24 season, a 34 per cent rise.
Each WSL club had a double-digit increase in revenue, while all 12 clubs reported over one million pounds in revenue for the first time, with an average revenue of 5.4 million pounds.
“Through developing more robust fan engagement strategies, strong commercial deals and securing central distributions, WSL clubs unlocked a new phase of growth,” Deloitte Sports Business group’s knowledge and insights lead Jennifer Haskel said.
“Plus, as the reporting and attribution of commercial revenue remains inconsistent between clubs, we may be scratching the surface on the value now being generated by the women’s game.”
($1 = 0.7409 pounds)
($1 = 0.8743 euros)
