The Premier League Doesn’t Run Out Of Fans Despite COVID
The Premier League Doesn’t Run Out Of Fans Despite COVID: Despite the pandemic, European football revenue increased throughout the football matches. This is because of the high roles that TV rights play in financing the modern game today.
According to a study from Deloitte, revenues reached £23.3 billion with 10% growth in 2020 and 2021, with the success of the postponed Euro 2020 tournament being part of that reason.
With new technologies and a shifting economy, the revenue generated by the five major football leagues in the 2020/21 season was 3%. Overweighting largely in Europe, the Premier League and Serie A relied mostly on this revenue. Many of the top European clubs faced backlash from supporters over the Super League fiasco.
Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham each agreed to contribute a certain amount of money to a soccer league that would feature European clubs like them but they made the deal public, arousing massive outrage which led to the plan being cancelled.
The Premier League’s decision for loopholes to be closed was met with criticism from some fans. If a team does its own thing and leaves, legally speaking the team would be moved nowhere near their current place in the league. Instead, it would receive a 30 point deduction and a fine of £25m per club before doing so again.
The Premier League has been the only one of the big five to see their total operating profits increase since last season, increasing from £49m to £479m. Premier League club’s net debt at the end of last season increased just 4% to £4.1bn.
In comparison to the Premier League, Championship clubs saw an increase of 32% in debt when it came to their liabilities, while the fourth consecutive year of record high wages-to-revenue ratio. The wage costs were significantly higher than the revenue that they generated.
Clubs across Europe played their matches behind closed doors or reduced capacity during the 2020/21 season and lost a significant amount of their match day revenue,” said Tim Bridge, a partner in the sports business group at Deloitte.
Despite the economic success of the Euro 2016 and the broadcast rights, many clubs are struggling financially. Historically, revenue from clubs seemed to trade at a premium relative to that from other forms of sport; however, they now seem to be on more stable ground.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, European football changed fundamentally with leagues and clubs needing outside investment and responding to a shift in transfer market trends.