Championship finances are one of the seven wonders of football

The Swiss Ramble provides a forensic analysis of Championship finances.  The figures relate to 2024/5 and accounts for four clubs are not available.   One club (Wycombe Wanderers) published abbreviated accounts.   Sheffield Wednesday was in administration.

It should be noted that overall Championship figures are very susceptible to the mix of clubs in any one season, i.e., ‘big’ versus ‘small’ clubs.    Spending by one club can have a distorting impact on some metrics, e.g., Sunderland spending on transfers.

The underlying finances remain as crazy as ever as clubs compete to reach the promised land of the Premier League.  In effect what we have is a Premier League Division 2.

Anyway, here are some highlights from the Swiss Ramble.  Much more is available on his Substack page.

The 23 clubs (i.e. excluding Sheffield Wednesday) generated £907m of revenue and £22m other operating income, but then paid out £1.6 bn in operating expenses, split between £877m wages, £230m player amortisation and £464m other expenses.

This led to a sizeable £642m operating loss, exacerbated by £57m net interest payable, which was partially offset by £357m profit from player sales and £86m exceptional items.  As a result, the division as a whole lost £256m, so around a quarter of a billion Pounds.

The Championship loss before tax of £256m was the best result since 2020/21, though losses have been pretty consistent recently, surpassing more than a quarter of a billion in each of the last four years, when they averaged a worrying £292m.  It is evident that this division bleeds money with total losses of £2.8 bn in the last decade, though the £1.384 bn deficit in the last five years was slightly smaller than the £1.445 bn in the preceding 5-year period.

In 2024/25 eight clubs lost more than £20m, led by Leeds United £49m, Cardiff City £35m, Stoke City £30m and Burnley £29m. The magnitude of the losses at Leeds and Burnley highlights one of the paradoxes in the Championship, which is that the most successful clubs often report the largest losses, due to hefty promotion bonuses. Only three clubs managed to generate a profit, namely Luton Town £18m, Sheffield United £5m and Plymouth Argyle £0.3m.

In fact, not a single Championship club has managed to deliver an operating profit in the last two years, while eight of them lost more than £30m without the benefit of player sales.   All clubs have become increasingly focused on player trading to help balance their books. In fact, in 2024/25 no fewer than eight clubs generated more than £20m from player trading, led by Burnley £59m, Sunderland £46m and Hull City £33m.

Revenue

Revenue has skyrocketed in the last two seasons, partly because larger clubs have dropped down from the Premier League. As a result, revenue has grown by an impressive 66% in the last decade, up £360m from just £547m in 2015/16.

In 2024/25 Leeds United were in a class of their own, breaking their own Championship record with £137m, followed by the other parachute clubs, namely Sheffield United £79m, Burnley £72m and Luton Town £67m. There was then a sizeable gap to the clubs without parachutes, such as Bristol City £40m, Sunderland £40m and Norwich City £39m.

The Championship’s attendances have significantly increased in the last couple of seasons; rising to 12.6m in 2023/24, before dipping to 12.1m the following season. This is still up by almost a third from the 9.3m in 2021/22, the first full season after the pandemic.  The Championship actually had the second highest attendance in the world in 2024/25, only behind the mighty Premier League, but ahead of the Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1.

Much of the Championship TV money is driven by the amount of Premier League parachute payments, which is dependent on the number of clubs receiving these. For example, there were only four such clubs in 2024/25, so the total parachute payments were just £187m, compared to £222m in the previous season, when there were five such clubs.

As is the case with the Premier League, commercial is becoming increasingly important in the Championship, though it fell £43m (14%) from £302m to £259m in 2024/25, mainly due to a change in the club mix.  Leeds United set another club high for the division of £58m, which surpassed their own previous record of £43m the previous season, mainly thanks to a new sponsorship deal with Red Bull. This was nearly three times as much as the next highest club, Bristol City £20m, followed by Stoke City £18m and Norwich City £17m.

The new TV deal reinforced broadcasting’s position as the most important revenue stream, rising from 46% to 49%, followed by match day 29% and commercial 22%. Nevertheless, this dominance has weakened a little in the last three years, as there were steep increases in both match day, up from 23% to 29%, and commercial, up from 18% to 22%, offset by a decrease in broadcasting, whose share fell from 59% to 49%.

Championship clubs have spent more than half a billion pounds on capital expenditure in the last ten years, mainly on stadium and training ground developments. 

Owner funding

The need for owners to put their hands in their pockets at Championship clubs is highlighted by them providing a hefty £3.3 bn of funding in the last 10 years, comprising £2.2 bln loans and £1.1 bln capital injections. Loans are usually converted to equity at a later date.  This is big money by almost anybody’s standards, so anyone looking to acquire a Championship club as a potential cheap route to the top flight should take into consideration the ongoing need to cover ongoing losses.  In fact, the £985m provided by owners in the last two seasons was the highest ever in the Championship for a 2-year period, much more than the £643m provided in the preceding 2-year period.

The Swiss Ramble concludes: ‘Almost all of the metrics under review decreased last season, mainly because of the change in club mix, as the division lost a few big hitters in the shape of Leicester City, Southampton and Ipswich Town, exacerbated by the non-availability of Sheffield Wednesday’s accounts.

This has only widened the significant gap between England’s two top tiers, e.g. the Premier League’s £6.8 bn revenue is more than seven times as much as the Championship’s £907m, so it is perhaps understandable that clubs spend big in an attempt to reach “the Promised Land”.  This has led to significant operating losses in the Championship, as clubs “speculate to accumulate”, partially offset by player sales, though the harsh reality is that most clubs continue to rely on their owners’ generosity.

The financial challenge is not helped by the substantial disparity between those clubs receiving parachute payments and the rest of the division, whereby their wages and transfer spend are more than twice as much as their rivals.

There is an interesting period coming up, with the proposed new distribution deal, reinforced by the creation of the Independent Football Regulator, as well as a new set of financial regulations in the shape of SCR.  Whether these initiatives are enough to improve financial sustainability in the Championship remains to be seen, as the Premier League remains the ultimate temptation for ambitious clubs.’