•
Real Madrid is
ranked number one for the 9th year
in arrow with €518.9m
•
Bayern Munich
surpassed Manchester United for 3rd
place with €400m
•
Two Turkish clubs, Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe
made the Money League for the first time
•
All Money League Clubs produced over €100m
respectively
The Money League report demonstrates football’s
resilience within challenging market conditions. More so, it alludes to the
notion that the business of football continues to grow, collectively, even in
smaller markets. It is important to note that for the first time ever, to be
placed within the top 20 revenue generating clubs, revenue totals needed to
have exceeded €100m. In fact, if Deloitte were to expand the Money League to
include thirty clubs, all thirty of the clubs would have surpassed the €100 million mark. To put that in perspective,
in 1997/1998, the first edition of the Money League, Manchester United
was the only club to have exceeded that total. It wasn’t until the 2008/2009
report that all twenty clubs saw revenues upwards of €100m.
Perhaps the biggest “upset” in the rankings goes
to Manchester United who for the first time since 1998 has been bumped from the
top 3. It is not surprising it was Bayern Munich who leapfrogged them in the
ranks, as Munich was able to pull off the elusive treble last season. The
treble is when a club wins the Champions League, league cup, and domestic cup.
So long as Munich does not proceed to repeat the treble this season, expect
Manchester United to regain its 3rd
place ranking.
The rankings showcase the importance of Champions
League and other tournaments in terms of revenue as it leads to more sell-out
crowds, sponsorship bonuses depending on performance incentives, and increased
television exposure. Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe are examples of this notion.
Soccer enthusiasts aren’t shocked to see these Turkish clubs on the Money
League as both of these sides had impressive results in tournament play last
season with Fenerbahçe reaching the semis of Europa League and
Galatasaray making in to the quarterfinals in Champions League.
In examining the revenue streams for the top 10
clubs in the Money League, it is interesting to note that each club listed in
the top 10 received upwards of €100m in broadcasting revenue alone, with the
exception of PSG who received €90.0m. The English Premier League is well
represented in this edition of the Money League as six English clubs are
listed, including four in the top eight. The strength of the Premier League
teams listed can be partially credited to the league’s lucrative broadcast contract with NBC. Despite the
EPL fostering the most valuable television rights for a league, Real Madrid and
Barcelona rank comfortably ahead of clubs such as Manchester United and Manchester
City due to their unique individually negotiated broadcast-contracts. As
Madrid and Barca move away from dynamic broadcast contracts to orthodoxly
formatted television deals at the end of this season, anticipate the gap in
broadcast revenues between Money League clubs to tighten.
Paris Saint-Germain
showed an 80% increase in revenue, the most growth at of any Money League club,
as the club moved from 10th in 2011/2012
(€220.5m) to 5th for the 2012/2013 season
with €398.8m in revenue. Of its total revenue, an astounding 64% or €254.7m,
stemmed from commercial revenues including its sponsorship with Emirates Airline and merchandise sales.
This is the highest ever single-revenue source in the history of the Money
League. David Beckham’s 5-month loan with the French club is speculated
to be the primary reason for the spike in merchandise sales at PSG.
Other clubs such as Man City are proof that in
the business of soccer, it is possible to produce incredible levels of revenue
even without winning a major tournament. Second-place finishers, City,
bolstered its revenue by 17% from the season prior by remaining competitive in
all competitions and negotiating large sponsorship deals. Of all clubs in the
Premier League, City relies heaviest on commercial sales, which account for 53%
of its total revenue (€316.2m)
In terms of matchday revenue, Manchester United
accumulated €127.3m in revenue, far more than any other club. When discussing
matchday revenue, it is crucial to consider the disparities in stadium sizes of
each of these clubs. In comparison, the most popular Italian club, A.C.
Milan, plays its home matches at San Siro, which has capacity of 80,018,
only generated €26.4m in matchday revenue. Old Trafford, home to Manchester
United, has a capacity of five thousand less at 75,765. In actuality, the
biggest reason for the difference in matchday revenue in Italy compared to the
rest of Europe is that fact that Italian clubs do not own their own stadiums,
making it difficult to capture large portions of matchday sales.
For the time being, it remains to be seen if any
club can surpass Real Madrid and Barcelona from a revenue perspective. It's simple:
Madrid and Barca feature the two most marketable players in the world right now
in Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. While Deloitte's
report reveals that players and trophies don't account for all revenue
totals, these two players are an exception as they bring an unquantifiable
amount of brand recognition to their respective clubs. Until one or the
other departs from his respective club, I can’t see anyone besides Manchester
United to leapfrog them in the rankings. While it was revealed in 2013 by Forbes that Madrid is the
most valuable sport franchise in the world at $3.3 billion, United have the
marketability and global allegiance to compete for highest revenue in next
year’s edition. However, with the recent announcement by Barcelona to build a
new stadium and United’s apparent lost hope for a trophy this season, don’t be
surprised if the top 3 positions remain identical in the 2013/2014 report.
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