The Football Money League – Part 2

Our earlier article summarised the league table of the top 20 football clubs in the world in respect of revenue generation. It showed West Ham in eighteenth place, and in seventh place of the eight Premier League teams. The English teams in the table were led by Manchester United, followed by Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham, West Ham, and Leicester. Emphasising the correlation between revenue generation and league positions, it is interesting to note that the top six English teams are the same in terms of both revenue and current league position, albeit in a different order. And their gap ahead of the rest is equally substantial in both revenue terms and points in the league.

Previously we showed the total revenue figures, followed by the percentages of that revenue produced as matchday income, TV income, and commercial income. The total revenue figures show the wide gulf between the other English clubs and ourselves, but if you analyse the actual figures in £M for each individual category, you can see just how far behind we are, and how it may be impossible to bridge the gap. When compared to previous years of the Deloitte table, the clubs at the top are getting exponentially richer, especially in terms of matchday revenue and commercial income in particular.

Looking at the matchday revenue figures, both Manchester United and Arsenal have figures of around four times of our own, Chelsea approaching three times, and we would need to double matchday income to be on a par with Liverpool and Manchester City, and raise it by 50% to match Tottenham. But that would be if their figures stood still, which they won’t. The move to the London Stadium was vital in revenue terms just to try to keep pace with the top clubs. It is unlikely to bring us any closer, especially in view of their own plans to increase capacities with larger stadiums.

	Matchday Revenue (£M)
1	Manchester United	103.1
2	Arsenal	101.6
3	Real Madrid	97.4
4	Barcelona	88.1
5	Bayern Munich	75.3
6	Chelsea	70.3
7	PSG	70.1
8	Liverpool	57.4
9	Manchester City	51.0
10	Borussia Dortmund	46.7
11	Tottenham	39.7
12	Schalke 04	38.6
13	Juventus	33.2
14	Atletico Madrid	27.4
15	West Ham United	27.3
16	AS Roma	21.2
17	AC Milan	19.3
18	Internazionale	18.8
19	Leicester City	11.6
20	FC Zenith	7.4

In view of the way TV income is allocated, in percentage terms we are a lot closer to the other English clubs in the table, although our income is only half that of Manchester City, and considerably less than the others.

	TV Revenue £M
1	Real Madrid	171.6
2	Manchester City	161.0
3	Barcelona	153.1
4	Juventus	145.4
5	Chelsea	143.9
6	Arsenal	143.7
7	Manchester United	139.1
8	Liverpool	126.8
9	AS Roma	115.9
10	Tottenham	110.9
11	Bayern Munich	110.7
12	Atletico Madrid	104.3
13	Leicester City	95.2
14	PSG	93.5
15	West Ham United	86.3
16	Internazionale	73.7
17	AC Milan	65.8
18	Borussia Dortmund	61.6
19	Schalke 04	55.4
20	FC Zenith	30.9

But it is the income generated commercially that is a real eye-opener. Tottenham’s figure is almost double of our own, Arsenal more than three times, Chelsea and Liverpool around four times, Manchester City six times, and Manchester United nine times! The figures show that, if the TV money were to dry up, or diminish to any great extent, the revenue differential between clubs would be even greater in percentage terms.

	Commercial Revenue £M
1	Manchester United	273.1
2	Bayern Munich	256.8
3	PSG	226.0
4	Barcelona	222.6
5	Real Madrid	194.8
6	Manchester City	180.6
7	Chelsea	120.5
8	Liverpool	117.8
9	FC Zenith	108.8
10	Arsenal	105.1
11	Borussia Dortmund	104.0
12	Juventus	76.5
13	AC Milan	75.4
14	Schalke 04	73.9
15	Tottenham	58.6
16	Internazionale	41.5
17	Atletico Madrid	39.3
18	West Ham United	30.2
19	AS Roma	26.1
20	Leicester City	21.9