Deloitte: Premier League Revenues Break £3bn Mark

The Deloitte Annual Review of Football Finance has revealed that revenue of Premier League clubs has broken the £3bn mark for the first time, just four years after passing the £2bn figure.

The study also shows that English Premier League clubs were stretching the wealth gap over their European rivals, although the Bundesliga remains the most profitable championship.

In England, the profitability for Premier League clubs is affected by the rocketing wages on offer in the division. The average Premier League player earns more than £1.6 million a year.

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. Matchday revenue also increased by 6% with fewer unsold seats at Premier League games than ever before.’

The audit and consulting firm described the league’s financial performance as a remarkable achievement in isolation, and ‘phenomenal’ given the global economic climate.

Deloitte senior sports business consultant Austin Houlihan also predicted Premier League revenues will reach £4bn for 2014/15 as extra broadcasting money is added to the English game.

In 2013/14 top flight clubs benefitted, on average, from an extra £25m in broadcast revenue.

Jones continued: ‘The entry of BT Sport into the market to compete with BSkyB has applied huge upward pressure to broadcast revenue – from the 2013/14 season onwards each domestic live game on average generates broadcast revenue of £6.5m.’ 

Premier League operating profits decreased slightly with clubs working on what Deloitte describes as ‘razor thin’ margins. Ballooning wage costs hit a new high, representing 71% of revenues.

These increases led to the aggregate profit falling by £2m to £82m, although 13 of the Premier League clubs made a profit in 2012/13 compared with 10 in the previous year.

Deloitte also revealed that clubs’ aggregate net debt grew by £139m to a total of more than £2.5bn by summer 2013, largely driven by an increase in interest-free soft loans from owners of £228m.

As a result, soft loans totaled £1.6bn, up from £1.4bn a year earlier, with 90% of this figure attributable to four Premier League clubs – Chelsea, Newcastle United, Aston Villa and Queens Park Rangers – the last of which suffered relegation in the same season, but will return to the top division after a play-off victory last month.

Deloitte expects UEFA’s Financial Fair Play break-even requirements to focus clubs’ minds on balancing their books. Mr Jones added: ‘The signs are that most clubs are adopting a more financially robust and balanced approach to the way they run their businesses, and they must continue down this path if they are to safeguard the long term financial health of the game.’

Both the English Premier League champions Manchester City and French title winners Paris Saint Germain agreed sanctions packages with UEFA last month that will see them comply with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules.