Skip to main content

Premier League clubs are in the money

Last night's Champions League final was a bit of a damp squib from the perspective of the neutral, but such over hyped occasions often are. The BT commentators made desperate attempts to talk up the game. What is clear is that the chances of Premier League success in the competition are increasing over time, important as it morphs into a European Super League.

Historically, English teams have been outperformed by Spanish teams and to some extent German teams. The Spanish duopoly of FC Barcelona and Real Madrid have won seven of the last ten Champions League titles.

Distribution of broadcasting cash in La Liga is weighted towards the top teams, while Barcelona and Real Madrid have been both adept at using their international profile to gain large sponsorship contracts. This has meant the earnings of the two Spanish clubs have outpaced those in the Premier League.

The best predictor of team performance is thought to be how much a team spends on player wages. Real Madrid and Barcelona each spent at least €100m more on player wages last season than Premier League clubs. However, as revenues increase, Premier League clubs are ramping up their spending on players.

Football consultancy 21st club has devised a player ranking system. According to their calculations, the Premier League has acquired 15 of the 30 best players in the world more than any other European division. Messi remains the best player in the world, but he is now 31.

Omar Chaudhuri, head of football intelligence at 21st Club, told the Financial Times that another factor in Premier League success was that English clubs had hired the world's best coaches, paying them enough to hold on to them for several seasons.

Last season Premier League clubs made a combined £4.8bn, a new record. Last week, the Premier League said that it would make £4.2bn from the sale of overseas television rights for the next three seasons to 2022, a £1bn increase from the three previous years. This will more than compensate for a fall in the value of UK domestic screening rights over the next three seasons.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fulham requires big funding from owner

After lengthy delays, Fulham’s shiny, new Riverside Stand has finally opened, creating “a unique Thameside destination with first class facilities for supporters and partners on match days, as well as for the wider community year-round”. This ambitious project has increased Craven Cottage’s capacity by around 4,000 to 29,600, while it has also taken advantage of the club’s fantastic location and wealthy catchment area by including two Michelin star restaurants, a rooftop swimming pool, corporate hospitality and event space, all benefiting from views of the Thames. Chief executive Alistair Mackintosh observed, “Fulham is the sort of club that can have a business class or first class and have fans that turn left on a plane.” Indeed, there is also an exclusive members club – with a football season ticket as an optional extra. It’s fair to say that “the times they are a-changing”, as this is a long way from the traditional pie and a pint. However, in a world where clubs face the tw...
Post a Comment
Read more

Threat of financial calamity removed from Baggies

West Bromwich Albion had effectively been in decline ever since the club was sold to a Chinese consortium in August 2016, paying a figure north of £200m to buy former owner Jeremy Peace’s stake. Controlling shareholder Guochuan Lai’s ownership was fairly disastrous for the club, but his unloved tenure finally came to an end after Bilkul Football WBA, a company ultimately owned by Florida-based entrepreneur Shilen Patel and his father Dr Kiran Patel, acquired an 87.8% shareholding in West Bromwich Albion Group Limited, the parent company of West Bromwich Albion Football Club. This change in ownership was urgently required, due to the numerous financial problems facing West Brom, including growing high-interest debt and serious cash flow concerns, following years of no investment from the former owner. Indeed, West Brom’s auditors had already rung the alarm bell in the 2021/22 accounts when they cast doubt on the club’s ability to continue as a going concern without making player s...
1 comment
Read more

A poor financial record, but new hope at Everton

I recently saw an amusing video online in which a group of Everton fans were rebuked in jest for being hopeful.  Football fans in general tend to swing between excessive optimism and excessive pessimism, but for many it seems that moaning is in their bloodstream (Spurs fans probably take the trophy).  However, Everton fans have had plenty to moan about on and off the pitch.   Let’s hope that a new era is about to begin for this grand old club. Everton’s 2023/24 financial results covered a fairly momentous season, when they ended up 15th in the Premier League, though they would finished three places higher if they had not received an 8-point deduction for breaching the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Regulations (PSR). It was a worrying time for Everton fans, as the club faced a “perfect storm” of issues, including large financial losses, an ever increasing debt burden, a challenging stadium build and the tortuous sale of the club. There were eve...
Post a Comment
Read more