EPL Revenue to Hit USD3.6bn from 2010/11 Season

June 9, 2011

According to a report by the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, the collective turnover of English Premier League soccer clubs hit a record £2.03bn (US$3.33bn) in the 2009-10 season and will have exceeded £2.2bn ($3.61bn) in the latest campaign.

Alex Byars, senior consultant in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, stated: “Of the £49m increase in Premier League clubs’ revenues, less than 10% (£4m) fed through to operating profits, which increased from £79m to £83m. The challenge for clubs continues to be converting impressive revenue growth into sustainable profits that allow for investment in both infrastructure and talent.”

“The record pre-tax losses of £445m in 2009-10 are a concern, particularly as credit is likely to remain less available to football clubs than it was two or three years ago. This may also, in part, explain why gross transfer spending by Premier League clubs decreased by more than 20% from the record £713m in 2008-09 to £559m in 2009-10.”

Dan Jones, partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, added: “Despite the difficult economic environment, Premier League clubs’ revenues increased by 2% in 2009-10. Broadcast revenue grew by 7% to £1.04bn to become the first £1bn revenue stream of any domestic football league, even before further growth in 2010-11 from the uplift in overseas broadcast deal values.”

However, the Review of Soccer Finance added that the total European football market grew to a record £13.3bn in 2009-10, with Germany’s Bundesliga proving the most profitable major league within the continent (£1.4bn revenue). However, the report suggested the high revenues of English clubs would place them in a strong position ahead of the new UEFA financial fair play rules to come into practice from the 2013-14 season.

Spain and Italy followed (£1.3bn each) and France (£0.9bn) all trailed the Premier League in the revenue stakes. However, for a second successive year the increase in Premier League clubs’ total wage costs of £64m (5%) exceeded the rise in revenues (£49m), driving total wages up to over £1.4bn and resulting in a record wages to revenue ratio of 68%.