Skip to main content

Commercial revenue away from the pitch more important for top clubs

The Deloitte Money League for 2026 has been published.  The cumulative revenue of the Money League clubs grew by 11%, rising to €12.4 billion (2023/24: €11.2 billion). Matchday (€2.4 billion), broadcast (€4.7 billion) and commercial (€5.3 billion) revenues all grew to record levels, as the latter became the first revenue stream to exceed €5 billion.

For the third consecutive year, commercial revenue represented the most significant proportion of total revenue for Money League clubs, generating an average of €265m (2025: €244m). The key drivers for this included improved retail performance, increasing sponsorship revenue, as well as the use of stadia and surrounds on non-matchdays.

The latter represents a significant shift in the business models of certain clubs to focus on greater utilisation of stadia assets through a diversified entertainment offering. On-site breweries, restaurants, hotels, and other offerings are therefore becoming more common, demonstrating the importance to clubs of broadening their revenue generating opportunities, highlighting that the brand and venues of football clubs continue to evolve, and now goes far beyond what just happens on the pitch.

Matchday revenue for Money League clubs hit record levels of €2.4 billion, and for the fourth year in a row represents the revenue stream with the highest proportional growth rate for Money League clubs (16%). Clubs’ increased efforts to improve matchday experiences, coupled with the use of other revenue drivers such as Personal Seat Licenses (‘PSL’), have been key in driving this growth.

Broadcast revenue grew by 10% in 2024/25 and remains a fundamental component of Money League clubs’ revenue, accounting for 38% of the €12.4 billion generated. The importance of broadcast revenue is again more evident for clubs ranked 11-20, for whom it represented almost half of total revenue (49%), compared to a third for those in the top 10, further emphasising that shift in approach from the higher revenue generating clubs in the last few years.

Impact of Club World Cup

The primary driver of broadcast revenue growth among Money League clubs in 2024/25 was the impact of the expanded FIFA Club World Cup1. Ten Money League clubs participated in last summer’s competition, resulting in a 17% uplift to these clubs’ broadcast revenues. Furthermore, the expansion of UEFA’s three primary men’s club competitions also contributed to the clubs’ revenue growth, as UEFA’s distributable funds for these competitions grew to €3.3 billion in 2024/25, up c.22% from €2.7 billion in 2023/24.

 he increase in the number of football matches played during the calendar poses some challenges regarding player welfare, and during the 2024/25 season Money League clubs played 57 competitive matches on average – with the same clubs playing 51 matches in 2023/24. There remains a need to strike a balance between competition innovation, player welfare, and fan interest.

Serie A and La Liga

In their domestic markets, both Serie A and Ligue 1 faced headwinds as they commenced new domestic broadcast rights agreements in 2024/25. Serie A’s new domestic deals for live and non-live coverage of league and cup competitions saw the total average rights value per season fall by c.3% excluding any potential revenue-share element, hindering clubs’ revenue growth.

Meanwhile, the value of Ligue 1’s new domestic agreements for the 2024/25 season were c.20% lower than the previous cycle following a protracted tender process. The subsequent termination by mutual agreement of the DAZN deal, which included eight live matches per weekend, saw the league launch a direct-to-consumer offering at the start of the 2025/26 season. This will negatively impact

French clubs’ broadcast revenues in the short-to-medium term but does see Ligue 1 become the first major European football league to adopt a D2C approach, and we will watch with interest to see whether, in the long-term, this represents a significant shift that others may seek to follow.

With plateauing domestic broadcast rights markets in Europe, the most significant trend observed has been the increasing importance of commercial revenue for clubs to grow their revenue away from on-pitch performance. Clubs and other key stakeholders require a strategic approach beyond increasing inventory to drive value, placing a greater onus on clubs to take initiative to own and develop unique revenue generating business models. Many clubs are increasingly recognising the power and impact of their brands and venues and the role they play within the ecosystem of the world’s most popular sport.

Deloitte observe that clubs, especially those in the top 10 for whom commercial revenue accounted for 48% of total revenue (32% for clubs ranked 11th to 20th), continue to take greater ownership of their revenue-generating capabilities. This includes leveraging their brand equity to drive growth, whether through retail offerings, exclusive direct-to-consumer content, or more traditional partnerships. Across the last ten years, the average revenue generated by a top 10 Money League club has grown by 60% (2015/16: €523m, 2024/25: €837m), whilst clubs ranked 11th to 20th have experienced growth close to 84% (2015/16: €219m, 2024/25: €404m).

 In contrast to the typical business models of top 10 Money League clubs, those ranked 11th to 20th have relied on broadcast revenue as their primary growth lever in recent years. With a number of domestic broadcast markets plateauing, it is likely that, in the long term, we will see an increasing number of clubs adopt a more proactive approach to commercial revenue to drive further growth.

 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's no deal say Spurs insiders over Taiwanese takeover

Senior figures at Tottenham Hotspur insisted on Friday that they had not been informed of any deal to sell Daniel Levy’s stake in the club. A business group, Eight Sports Capital — which is said to include a billionaire Taiwanese financier — claimed that it had an agreement in place to buy a 24.99 per cent stake in ENIC, the club’s majority owners, from Levy, who owns 29.88 per cent. The Times has been told Ng Wing Fai and Brooklyn Earick form part of the group, having both been linked previously to potential takeovers of the Premier League club. The Taiwanese businessman, Richard Tsai, is also said to be part of the consortium. He is reportedly worth £7 billion.  Last year Earick, the former DJ and tech entrepreneur, was part of an attempted £4.5 billion takeover, which was “unequivocally rejected” by Spurs.  An ENIC spokesperson said: “We can confirm that neither ENIC nor THFC are aware of any sale by Daniel Levy’s Family Trust of its minority stake in ENIC, THFC’...
Post a Comment
Read more

Spurs CEO attacks luxury training base

The Tottenham Hotspur chief executive Vinai Venkatesham has issued a withering assessment of the way the club was run under Daniel Levy, likening the state-of-the-art training centre to a five-star hotel rather than a centre of high performance.  Venkatesham was appointed to his role in April 2025, having stepped down as chief executive at Arsenal the previous summer. However, he has said that some aspects of the club were “in a significantly worse state” than he expected.  “Our training centre is amazing, one of the best, if not the best in the world,” Venkatesham told BBC Sport. “But when you look around, it looks more like a five-star hotel than it does a performance environment. That will change over the summer. I think there are many areas where the club hasn’t got the right level of expertise.”  He explained that the football side of operations was the club’s main downfall when he arrived last year. [One Spurs fan wryly observed that it was like a water company sayi...
Post a Comment
Read more

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