The 20 most economically powerful clubs in world football will lose between the last season 2019-20 and the present 2020-21 some 2,000 million euros in income due to the impact of the pandemic of the COVID-19, according to the annual study 'Football Money League' that the consultancy elaborates Deloitte.
“We estimate that the 20 'Money League' will lose over 2 billion euros in revenue at the end of the 2020-21 season, due to reduced revenue on match day due to the absence of spectators, compensation to televisions and negative commercial impacts, as well as the lost opportunity to continue its growth trajectory, “the report states.
According to the study data, only last season the cut in income for the big clubs was 1,100 million euros, with a 17% decrease in those associated with match day (257 million less, related to season tickets, tickets and catering, in a season in which there were audiences until March), retransmission revenues fell 23% (957 million less), although commercial revenues were maintained, with an increase of 3% (105 million more).
This season, the authors of the study calculate a similar impact and even consider that the hit of the pandemic “may not be fully known for several years” due to the uncertainty generated by the companies that acquire the rights to broadcast or the partners club commercials.
“Fortunately for the clubs, the pandemic has highlighted the importance of sport for many people, reinforcing its strengths and attractiveness for televisions and brands. We will see in the next negotiations of television rights and commercial agreements how this affects the valuations”, indicates the report .
Regarding the classification of clubs by income, stability is the dominant trend, with Barcelona in the first position, with 715.1 million euros of income despite a decrease of more than 125 million compared to the previous year; followed by Real Madrid, which had a turnover of 714.9 million, 40 less than in 2018-19.
They are followed by the current European champions, German Bayern Munich, which entered in 2019-20 about 634.1 million euros (25 less than the previous year), with the English Manchester United, Liverpool and Manchester City next, the French Paris Saint-Germain, English Chelsea and Tottenham and Italian Juventus rounding out the top ten of the top clubs by revenue.
Atlético de Madrid remains in thirteenth position, after having received 331.8 million euros in revenue according to Deloitte accounts (almost 50 million less than last year), behind the top ten, English Arsenal (eleventh ) and German Borussia Dortmund (twelfth).
The list of the 20 clubs with the highest turnover is completed by Italian Inter Milan, Russian Zenit (one of the few clubs that improves its turnover to 236 million due to its participation in the Champions League), German Schalke 04, Everton English (another that grows, 2 million by commercial income), the French Olympique de Lyon, the Italian Naples and the German Eintracht Frankfurt.
Just after the top 20 clubs is Spanish Valencia, with revenues of 172.1 million, ahead of English Leicester, Portuguese Benfica, German Borussia Mönchengladbach, English Crystal Palace and West Ham, Dutch Ajax, English Sheffield and Wolverhampton and Italian Milan.
“The crisis derived from COVID-19 has pushed clubs to rethink and recalibrate their strategic objectives and business models, so that they can ensure a solid and prompt recovery,” explains Concha Iglesias, partner in charge of sports at Deloitte Spain.
According to the study, 93% of respondents from 20 countries intend to return to stadiums when allowed, and 86% believe that the lack of public in football arenas worsens the television experience.