Premier League continues to dominate Europe financially

The Big Five league are the Premier League (England), La Liga (Spain), Bundesliga (Germany), Serie A (Italy) and Ligue 1 (France). These leagues accounted for €19.6 bln revenue, which represented 56% of Europe’s €35.3 bln total in 2022/23. Their share has been higher in the past, e.g. 60% in 2019/20, but it’s still a very large slice of the European market.

The Premier League remains the clear market leader, generating around €7.0 bln revenue, which is over €3 bln more than its closest challenger, the Bundesliga €3.8 bln. Put another way, England’s top flight is over half a billion more than La Liga €3.5 bln and Serie A €2.9 bln combined.

Much more revealing is the revenue growth over the last ten years, where the Premier League has comfortably outpaced the other leagues, rising by an incredible €3.1 bln from €3.9 bln to €7.0 bln.

Much of the Premier League’s dominance is obviously due to its spectacular broadcasting deal, but it is far from being a “one trick pony”, as it is a long way ahead of the other leagues in every single revenue stream. That said, broadcasting remains the most important driver of income in the Big Five leagues, accounting for 47% (€9.2 bln) of total revenue, followed by commercial 39% (€7.6 bln) and match day 14% (€2.8 bln).

The Premier League’s agreement for the 2025-29 cycle will increase the annual TV rights from €3.4 bln to €3,9 bln, so nearly twice as much as their closest challenger, La Liga €2.0 bln.

The Premier League’s €4.6 bln wage bill was 86% (€2.1 bln) higher than La Liga’s €2.5 bln in 2022/23. Incredibly, wages in England’s top flight were actually more than La Liga and the Bundesliga combined.

The Premier League’s operating profit has consistently been the best of the Big Five leagues, only twice falling behind the Bundesliga in the last decade. However, the gap has narrowed in the last few years, more than halving from €753m in 2016/17 to €315m.

Transfers are where the Premier League’s financial dominance becomes abundantly clear, as its spending power has been so much more than the other leagues. In the last two seasons, the gap to the next highest spending league has been absolutely enormous: €2.2 bln in 2022/234 and €1.8 bln in 2023/24.

In many ways, European clubs have essentially become feeder clubs for the Premier League (with the exception of the elite like Bayern Munich, PSG, Real Madrid and Barcelona). Indeed, many of the continental clubs count on big money from player sales to England to balance their books, as they could not secure such large fees anywhere else, so the Premier League’s financial strength is a bit of a double-edged sword for them.

The 2022/23 season was another record year for the Premier League, at least in terms of revenue generation, as this has climbed to almost €7.0 bln. The problem is that expenses have also continued to grow, so wages were also at an all-time high of €4.6 bln.

The latest numbers for 2022/23 have basically confirmed what most people already knew, namely that the Premier League is the dominant league financially – and in many areas the gap is actually widening.

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The Political Economy of Football V2

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