Deloitte Reveals Premiership Losses
A new study from the Sports Business Group at Deloitte has revealed that the 12 clubs in the Guinness Premiership registered a combined loss of over £10m for the 2007-08 season.
The report revealed the size of the losses despite the clubs turning over £100m in revenues in 2007-08.
Three clubs had revenues of over £10m – Leicester Tigers, Harlequins and Gloucester – while the average for the other nine clubs was around £7m. However only Gloucester reported a profit, and six clubs reported losses of more than £1m.
Deloitte said rising attendances had produced a 40% rise in revenues in the past five seasons.
The evidence from last season was positive in that regard, with regular season attendances topping 1.5m, with an average of almost 11,400 – up by almost 1,000 on the 10,256 average in 2007/08.
‘This is a particularly impressive achievement given that rugby union clubs do not receive huge broadcast rights revenues,’ said Dan Jones, partner at Deloitte.
‘However, the rate of cost growth means certain clubs continue to be reliant on benefactor support to sustain them. Attracting new spectators and continuing to build on this attendance growth is therefore critical in order for the majority of clubs to become self sustainable in the longer term.’
