Deloitte: Premier League Hits Highest Crowd Figures

The Annual Review of Football Finance by Deloitte has revealed that Barclays Premier League teams are continuing to pull in record crowds, with average attendance figures hitting an all-time high and fewer unsold seats than ever before.

The report found that the average league capacity utilisation at Premier League clubs of 96% in 2013/14 was the highest recorded in Premier League history and the 17th consecutive season above 90%. 

In 2012/13 the increase in attendance (up 4% to a record average of 35,903) drove an overall uplift in matchday revenue of £34m (6%) to £585m. 

The record was broken again in 13/14 when attendance averaged 36,695.

Dan Jones, partner at Deloitte, said: ‘Once again the global appeal of the Premier League has continued to drive commercial revenue growth, particularly at the highest-ranked Premier League clubs.’

While the report showed the strong financial position of the Premier League – its clubs broke the £3bn revenue barrier for the first time – the study warned teams in the lower divisions of the ‘dangerous line’ a number of clubs are crossing in a bid to reach the riches of the top flight, by paying out more in wages than they earn in revenue.

For the 2012/13 season, wage costs overtook revenues for the first time in a dozen years, leading to the highest ever wages-revenue ratio of 106%, accompanied by record losses across the division of £241m.

Financial Fair Play and the Premier League’s own restrictions have stopped wages rising more quickly than expected, but in the Championship, despite FFP measures agreed by the Football League, half the clubs had wage costs greater than revenue. 

The figures were published in the latest annual review of football finance by the Deloitte Sports Business Group and reveal that while wages in the Premier League have also reached record levels – the average Premier League salary is £1.6m – it is a sustainable rise, given that each club in the top flight will earn an average of £25m more a season from the new TV deal.

Jones added: ‘This desire to reach the Premier League saw clubs gamble heavily in 2012-13 to achieve promotion.’

‘This is a reckless model and one which Championship clubs themselves voted in regulations to address. These are scheduled to take effect from the 2013/14 season.’

‘Looking at the chart of wages v revenue it is clear a dangerous line has now been literally, not just metaphorically, crossed.’