Mixed fortunes for clubs in Football Money League
THE region’s leading football clubs have encountered mixed fortunes in the latest Deloitte Football Money League rankings of the highest-earning clubs.
Both Liverpool and Manchester City slipped back one place to 9th and 12th respectively, while Manchester United retained its third place behind the two Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona – which have an advantage over English clubs as they can sell their own TV rights.
City and Liverpool’s long term fortunes are expected to contrast next year with the Abu Dhabi-backed Manchester club expected to enter the top 10 for the first time thanks to Champions League qualification and the enhanced 10-year sponsorship Etihad deal, reportedly worth £250m over 10 years.
Alan Switzer, a director in the Manchester-based Sports Business Group at Deloitte, said of City: The club’s heavy squad investment secured Champions League football for 2011/12. When combined with the ground breaking 10-year partnership with Etihad, this will provide substantial growth across all three revenue sources and will see City break into the top 10 in the Money League next year.”
Liverpool, despite commercial success including its new kit deal with US-based Warrior Sports, could exit the top 10 as a result of a failure to qualify for the Champions League for a third season.
Paul Rawnsley, a director in the Sports Business Group said: “Liverpool have already slipped back from around 7th in the last few years to 9th, and while the Warrior deal will boost revenues next year, the lack of Champions League football could see them fall out, though a lot depends on the final Champions League places this year.”
Mr Rawnsley said Manchester United’s group stage exit from the lucrative Champions League would not see it lose third place next year, but would widen the gap between it and the two Spanish clubs.
“We see in the next couple of years Real Madrid and Barcelona becoming €500m revenue businesses, making them bigger than the US sports franchises.”
Deloitte’s research shows the combined revenues for the 20-11 season of the world’s 20 highest earning football clubs rose 3% to €4.4bn (£4bn)
Dan Jones, partner in the Sports Business Group added: “Continued growth of the top 20 clubs during 2010/11 emphasises the strength of football’s top clubs, especially in these tough economic times.
“Whilst revenue growth has slowed from 8% in 2009/10 to 3% in 2010/11, their large and loyal supporter bases, ability to drive strong broadcast audiences and continuing attraction to corporate partners has made them relatively resilient to the economic downturn.”
For the fourth successive year, the top six clubs in the Money League – Real Madrid £433m), Barcelona (£407m), Manchester United (£331.4m), Bayern Munich (£290.3m), Arsenal (£226.8m) and Chelsea (£225.6m) have remained the same.
Real Madrid is now just one year short of equalling Manchester United’s dominance in the top position during the first eight years of the Money League.
Deloitte says the looming introduction of UEFA’s financial fair play rules, is a key theme for clubs.
Mr Rawnsley said: “The focus on football’s future financial sustainability is more prevalent in Europe than at any time in the past 20 years.
“We remain keen to see that translated into a better balance between revenue and expenditure. UEFA’s break-even requirement, to be assessed for the first time in 2013, is helpful in driving this improvement.”
