The annual Deloitte Review of Football Finance which provides an in-depth review of football across Europe and provides insight into the financial growth and power of the Premier League.
The report contains an analysis of the financial trends and business drivers across European football, with a focus on the Premier League. A 36-page document on a season made all the more interesting by Leicester City’s title triumph, it looks at the performances off the pitch of some of the best supported football clubs around the world. Below we highlight some of the key findings from the report.
PREMIER LEAGUE
- Premier League revenues grew by 9% to a record £3.6 billion in 2015/16.
- Leicester City won the league despite generating less than 40% of the average revenues of the big six clubs.
- In the final year of an EPL broadcast cycle, the 20 clubs generated more on average (£182m) than all 22 top division clubs did combined in the 1991/92 – the last season before the competition began.
- The 17 clubs present in both the 2014/15 and 2015/16 season saw an increase in wage costs by an average of £13m each. Liverpool were the highest with £42m and Manchester United had the second largest at £37m.
- Premier League clubs’ revenues are expected to rise to £4.5 billion in 2016/17 and £4.6 billion in 2017/18.
EUROPE
- 57% of additional revenue generated by the ‘big five’ European leagues in 2015/16 was spent on wage costs.
CHINA
- In the 2016/17 winter transfer window, Chinese Super League clubs spent more than £300m on players, more than any other league in the world.
- Barcelona recently opened a €4 million complex on the Chinese holiday island of Hainain that includes a football school, Barcelona shop and fan zone.
- Chinese investors now have shares in a host of European clubs including; AC Milan, Internaziole, OGC Nice, Birmingham, Reading, West Brom, Birmingham City and Wolves.
TRANSFERS
- Premier League clubs spent £1.3 billion on transfers during the 2015/16 season with 66% being spent on overseas clubs.
- Despite their relegation, Newcastle United were one of five clubs that recorded transfer acquisitions of over £100m.
- Manchester City spent a record £175m on players in a single season.
- The Premier league clubs spent £160m with agents, whilst football league clubs spent £37m.
STADIUMS
- The Bundesliga is the best-attended football league in the world with average attendances of over 40,500 in the 2016/17 season.
- Total attendances across the Premier League and Football League increased by 5% to almost 32m in the 2016/17 season.
- The relegation of both Aston Villa and Newcastle helped boost Championship attendance levels by 15%.
ESPORTS
- It is predicted by that 2020 eSports revenues may total £1.2 billion.
- eSports are reported to offer an attractive marketing opportunity to multi-national brands as the audience contains a disproportionately high number of tech-savvy consumers aged between 20 and 35. These consumers who spend more time online and use mobile devices more than older generations are increasingly difficult for brands to reach through traditional marketing routes.
This article was originally published by our partners FutureSport .
To download the full Deloitte report click here .
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