Man City surge up Deloitte’s Money League
MANCHESTER City’s commercial and footballing success has driven its revenues into the top 10 in Europe, according to Deloitte’s annual Football Money League.
Winning the Premier League last year, playing in the Champions League for the first time, and the enhanced sponsorship and naming rights deal with Etihad, saw City move from 12th to seventh in the Football Money League as revenues surged by 51% to £231.1m.
While CIty were the big movers into the top 10, rivals Manchester United remained in third place despite revenues falling from £331.4m to £320.3m.
Spanish pair Real Madrid and Barcelona – which benefit from being able to negotiate their own TV rights deals while English clubs share revenues – remain in first and second place with turnover of £414.7m and £390.8m respectively.
Five of the top 10 clubs by turnover are English, reflecting the commercial strength of top flight football in this country – a situation which is underlined by the bumper new TV deal with Sky and BT beginning next season.
Liverpool, despite again missing out on Champions League but benefiting from its new sponsorship kit deal with US firm Warrior Sports, retained its top 10 spot with revenues of £188.7m, earning it 9th place in the league table, unchanged on last year.
The other two English clubs, Chelsea and Arsenal retained their respective 5th and 6th positions, while Bayern Munich (4th), AC Milan (7th) and Juventus (10th) complete the top 10.
Despite a 2% decrease in revenue to £80.5m in 2011/12, Everton maintained its top 30 position in the Money League, and it is the eighth highest revenue generating club in England.
Deloitte’s research shows the combined revenues of the world’s 20 highest-earning football clubs grew 10% on the previous year to reach €4.8bn in 2011/12. The 20 clubs contribute over 25% of the total revenue of the European football market.
Looking ahead Austin Houlihan, senior manager in Deloitte’s North West-based Sports Business Group believes Manchester United’s new world record sponsorship with Chevrolet and the new TV deal may see it challenge Real Madrid and Barcelona for the top two spots in future years, while he also feels Manchester City is a growing force financially.
“Manchester United continue to successfully leverage their global brand. The new world-record seven-year shirt sponsorship deal with General Motors will double the revenues the club receives from its shirt partner in the first season of the new deal in 2014/15.
“This, combined with new Premier League broadcast deals from 2013/14, which will deliver incremental distributions of between £20m and £30m per club, will help Manchester United push the two Spanish clubs above them for a top two ranking. Indeed, the new Premier League deals could mean that half of the Money League top 20 are represented by English clubs in a few years’ time.
“Manchester City’s progress to the top of the English and European game means that they are set to remain a top 10 Money League club for the foreseeable future, and will look to push on ahead of the two English clubs immediately above them in the Money League, Arsenal and Chelsea, for a top five ranking.”
