Premier League clubs post record revenue of £3.26 billion

Premier League clubs generated record revenue of £3.26 billion in 2013/14 – up 29 per cent on 2012/13 – according to the 24th Annual Review of Football Finance from the Sports Business Group at Deloitte.

The average revenue for a Premier League club in 2013/14 was £163m – just £7m less than the combined revenues of the 22 First Division clubs in 1991/92; the final season before the introduction of the Premier League.

“The impact of the Premier League’s broadcast deal is clear to see,” said Deloitte’s Dan Jones.

“Broadcast income increased by £569m in 2013/14, accounting for 78 per cent of the overall growth in revenue in the Premier League.

“Continued growth in both commercial and match-day revenue helped Premier League clubs’ combined revenues reach £3.26 billion – a staggering increase of £735m compared with the season before.

“In 2013/14 even the Premier League club receiving the least from domestic league broadcast distributions earned more from this source than all but five other European clubs.

“Following recent announcements of commercial deals for a host of the largest clubs, we expect the Premier League to surpass the Bundesliga in commercial revenue terms and hence lead the world in all three key revenue categories from 2014/15.”

Premier League clubs also made a combined operating profit of £614m, up from £82m in 2012/13, and an aggregate pre-tax profit of £187m – the first since 1998/99. This was almost four times greater than the previous record of £49m, set way back in 1997/98.

Cost control regulations... have caused many clubs to rein in their spending relative to the revenue they are now capable of generating.

Jones added: “Premier League clubs also showed relative restraint in terms of wage costs, with less than 20 per cent of their revenue growth being absorbed by wage costs. Indeed, the Premier League’s wages to revenue ratio reduced to 58 per cent (from 71 per cent) in 2013/14, the lowest it has been since the 1998/99 season.

“The current broadcast deal also comes as cost control regulations, at both domestic and European level, have caused many clubs to rein in their spending relative to the revenue they are now capable of generating. The end result has been a remarkable turnaround in profitability.”

In the Championship, overall revenue increased by 12 per cent to £491m, however, clubs continue to pay more in wages (£518m) than they earned in revenue. The wages/revenue ratio in the second tier was 105 per cent in 2013/14, compared with 106 per cent in 2012/13. This resulted in operating losses of £222m and a combined pre-tax loss of £247m.