Last season may have been disastrous on the pitch for Manchester United but off it the club have reaped the benefits of huge commercial growth to narrow the gap to Real Madrid in the battle to be the world’s highest-earning club.
According to this year’s Deloitte Money League, United jumped two places from fourth to second with revenues of €565.37 million.
Their growth was partly fuelled by their commercial strategy of selling regional sponsorship categories around the world but also by the Premier League’s broadcasting deals that bring in €7.17 billion over three years.
"Despite a poor on-pitch season in 2013-14, United's commercial strategy of securing global and regional partners is delivering substantial growth. Commercial revenue has grown 83 per cent in the last three years," said Austin Houlihan, a senior manager at Deloitte.
“Thanks to the latest Premier League media deals, broadcast revenue also increased 34 per cent to €177.2 million. Their absence this season from European competition will be felt in next year’s Money League position, but if they can return to the Champions League in 2015-16 there is a strong possibility they could be top in two years’ time.”
A return to Champions League football combined with the impact of a new €979 million, 10-year deal with Adidas would help boost revenues further and could enable them to overhaul Real as the highest earners in world football.
Half of the places in the Money League top 40 were taken up by clubs from the top division in England. Newcastle United and Everton are new entries in the top 20, joining the six clubs – United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur – on last year’s list.
Revenue increases
“The Premier League’s new broadcast deals have translated into big revenue increases across the English top flight. In fact, every Premier League club reported record revenues in 2013-14.
“Between them, the eight English clubs in our top 20 achieved total broadcast revenues of €1.17 billion,” said Houlihan. “That all the clubs in the Premier League are in the top 40 is testament to the huge appeal of the league globally and also the equality of the distributions the clubs enjoy relative to their European counterparts.”
Dan Jones, partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte said that the gap between the haves and have-nots in European football would get ever wider, with the "big five" leagues continuing to grow faster than their rivals.
“Commercial and broadcast revenues are now more important than ever to clubs to enable them to compete financially and put the best talent on the pitch,” he added.
Guardian Service
