the most comprehensive report on football finance available and while
it is primarily aimed at those involved in some way the football
industry rather than the ordinary fan, it is jam-packed with facts to
quench the thirst of the most hardened Statto. As some stats are not
yet available for 04/05 a lot of info reflects the 03/04 season. It
concentrates on the EPL but does do some comparisons with the other big
four countries (Spain, Italy, France and Germany). In no particular
order here are a few stats that may be of interest.
• Both Rangers and Celtic received €7.5m for their participation in
Champions League 03/04. Rangers fee was made up of €1.6m starting fee,
€2m match fee, €0.5m performance bonus and €3.4m TV pool. Celtic's
performance bonus was €0.8m but their TV pool was €300,000 less.
• TV Pool money varies hugely based primarily on country of origin.
For example, Arsenal made €20m from the TV pool yet the eventual
winners, Porto made only €2m!
• Porto's final winning fee was €6.6m making their overall income from
the CL €19.7m. Bayern made almost the same amount despite being
knocked out at the last 16. Chelsea made the most of all participants
€28.9m
• All above figures are exclusive of gate receipts etc.
• It would be reasonable to guess Rangers match income per home CL
game was around £1.3m making a total income of around £9m from the CL.
Assume costs of £1m (inc bonuses for qualifying) then its not hard to
see why CL football means so much to us.
• Rangers came 19th in the Euro turnover league with an income of
€86m, Celtic came 13th with an income of €104m. While a superficial
analysis of the figures is not favourable for Rangers the picture
doesn’t get any better when split into Matchday income, Broadcast and
Commercial. (in saying the true picture of a club's financial health
requires much more information than just turnover, including contract
structures such as catering, net debt, costs of capital etc).
• Rangers income is split €37m matchday, €11m broadcast, €38
commerical whereas Celtic's is respectively €53m, €24m, €27m. Their
higher matchday income is explained by more European home games (3 if I
remember rightly) and 10,000 more seats. I cannot think why the
broadcast income is so different without further analysis (which I have
no desire to do!) but Rangers can take comfort from their commercial
efforts which we know comes from our terrific retail performace which
reflects a healthy fanbase for Rangers. Nevertheless, we must bear in
mind that £1 from each category isnt equal to the ther categories. For
example almost all of every £1 from broadcast is pure profit (the club
don’t have to spend on this), £1 from matchday is good profit (there
are costs associated with matchday, but still relatively low), whereas
every £1 from commerical/retail might only yield 40/50p for the club
once cost of sales have been factored in. It cannot be denied that
having 10,000 less paying customers every home game is a disadvantage
for Rangers and means that as a club we have to be one step smarter in
getting value for money than our rivals to remain ahead of them.
• In the cumulative Football Money League using the same principles as
above but over a period 96/97 to 03/04 Rangers are 17th, Celtic are
19th. Rangers highest placing was 14th in 96/97.
• Over this period the top teams have been Man U, Real Madrid,
Juventus, Bayern Munich and AC Milan.
• Since his arrival just two years ago Roman Abramovich's total
investment in Chelsea has been close to £300m in equity and loans.
Chelsea's salary of £115m in the last year was £38m higher than Man U,
the top income team in the planet.
• Broadast income makes 45% of the total income for the EPL - as this
is effectively 'free' money you can see why Rangers and Celtic cast
envious eyes southwards!
• Average Wages/Turnover in the EPL was around 60%
• In the EPL only Man U, Aston Villa, Birmingham and Portsmouth have
no net debt (this is before the Glazer transaction is accounted for).
Turnover in Europe's top 5 leagues grew by 2% in the last year. A sign
that football is near saturation, though there are no signs of
significant decline and the overall forecast is continued low single
digit growth.
The average EPL player costs their club £900,000 per annum. This
translates to a salary of c£800k - the additional cost is made up
primarily of employers National Insurance costs.
The NET after tax income to the average EPL player is £9,400 per
week. Nice work if you can get it!
It would cost 44% MORE for a club in France to pay the same player the
same net income. This is because tax rates are higher as are employer
social security costs. This is why clubs in the UK can attract players
from France so easily and also Italy - though the cost In Germany and
Spain is marginally lower than the UK.
Germany has the highest average attendance of 36,900 compared to 33,900
in the England though the average cost per ticket is €44 in England but
ony €19 in Germany hence why England remains a far richer league.
Err that’s me statted out. Let the informed pub chat begin!
Sgt Steve