Premier League Well Represented In Football Rich List
By Ben Clarke
Deloitte’s Football Rich List, unveiled yesterday, breaks down the football clubs with the highest revenue in 2013/14, and in doing so, gives us a valuable insight into the state of world football.
Not surprisingly, the current golden-boys of the sport, Real Madrid, topped the list with an annual revenue of £518.9m, their huge worldwide support and immense competitive success last year undoubtedly propelling them to the peak.
More interesting is the fact that the majority of the top ten is filled by five Premier League clubs; both Manchester clubs, as well as Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool, feature in that very order.
Some were surprised that Manchester United were flying so high, despite their poor showing last season, but the huge sponsorship deal with General Motors, along with their £750 million adidas kit deal more than made up for their lack of European football qualification.
Manchester City’s income keeps growing, a signal of their intent to continue being a financial and footballing powerhouse, as they begin to receive more and more outside funding in return for their commercial potential.
Although they have a long way to go to reach Los Blancos’ level of revenue, a run in with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations as well as their heavy investment in the growth of the club could see Manchester City climb up the list very soon. They should become more prudent with their financial decisions and will expect great dividends on their major investments.
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Despite – like Manchester United – not achieving any material success, Liverpool FC climbed three spots up the ladder, their match-day income possibly trumping many major European clubs, given their strong fan support at both home and away games (and their established popularity in Scandinavian countries probably helped too).
Although Liverpool didn’t achieve the same success of other Champions League competitors last season, their revenue still puts them ahead of Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund, among other powerhouses. As a result, we Premier League fans should look ahead with optimism.
14 Premier League clubs make up the ranking’s top 30, and with the upcoming TV rights bidding war set to ensue, it seems like there will be no slowing down of the Premier League’s growing revenue.
Although the top English clubs don’t all achieve as much success as other European sides, there is a trend emerging, the Premier League taking over the footballing world.
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There’s been constant debates in the last few years over which league is the best in the world: the Premier League or La Liga. The top three Spanish clubs have garnered more European success than any of England’s top four or five, yes, but the presence of sides like Newcastle, Stoke City and Everton in the top 30 of Deloitte’s Rich List suggest that, as a whole, English clubs hold a much more prominent place in the global society of football than those in any other leagues.
Some say that money is going to ruin football. Right now, it is all too clear that in only a few more years football will be dictated solely by cash flow (it can actually be argued that we’re at that point already), and if English clubs continue to dominate the revenue-front, it’s not all too far-fetched to assume that the league will begin to dominate sooner than we think.
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