Region’s top clubs grow revenues to £1.05bn
Deloitte’s Annual Review of Football Finance – which covers the 2011-12 season – shows the top-line growth was driven by the Premier League clubs, with Manchester City seeing a 51% increase to a record £231.1m.
The club, transformed under the ownership of billionaire Sheikh Mansour’s Abu Dhabi United Group, replaced Liverpool in second place behind Manchester United in the regional turnover league table on the back of winning the league, playing in the Champions League and new commercial deals.
The importance of the North West is evidenced that the region’s 19 Premier League and Football League clubs account for 35% of the £3bn total revenue of all 92 professional clubs in English football.
While the seven North West Premier League clubs jointly generated nearly £1bn in revenues in2011/12, they spent the lion’s share on player wages, which topped £700m.
In terms of profitability, Manchester United again topped the region and the country making £84m in operating profit.
Overall Premier League clubs’ revenues increased 4% to £2.4bn in 2011/12 and the revenue of the top 92 clubs in English football exceeded £3bn for the first time.
Dan Jones, partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte in Manchester, said: “Despite operating in a challenging economic environment, English club football’s profile, exposure and increasingly global interest have continued to drive revenue growth for the top clubs.
“The combined revenue of the Premier League clubs increased by 4% to almost £2.4bn, with another year of impressive commercial revenue growth, largely focused among the highest ranked Premier League clubs, and relatively stable matchday and broadcast revenues.”
Deloitte sees no let-up in the growth of Premier League clubs’ income, thanks to lucrative new broadcast deals with Sky and BT.
Adam Bull, senior consultant , said: “Revenue is estimated to have grown by a further 5% to £2.5bn in 2012/13. There will then be a significant increase of around £600m, almost 25%, in 2013/14, with the first season of the Premier League’s new broadcast deals, taking the projected revenue of Premier League clubs above £3bn for the first time.”
Mirrorring the regional picture, almost 75% of the Premier League clubs’ revenue increase in 2011/12 was spent on wages, which increased by £64m (4%) to £1.7bn.
Revenue in the Football League Championship increased by £53m (13%) to £476m in 2011/12. This was driven in part by the number of clubs being in receipt of parachute payments from the Premier League and the change in the mix of clubs.
Other key findings of the Deloitte Annual Review of Football Finance 2013 include:
:: The total European football market grew to a record £15.7bn (€19.4bn) in 2011/12;
:: After the Premier League, which is Europe’s richest league, Germany was the next biggest with £1.5bn, followed by Spain (£1.4bn), Italy (£1.3bn), and France (£0.9bn);
:: Germany’s Bundesliga remained Europe’s most profitable league with operating profits of £154m, followed by the Premier League, with operating profits of £98m.
