English football's Premier League reported a record £2.4bn in revenues in 2011/12, the highest of any league in Europe, according to research by Deloitte.
In comparison, the leagues in Germany had revenues of £1.5bn Spain £1.4bn, Italy £1.3bn and France £0.9bn. The total European football market grew to a record £15.7bn in 2011/12. Germany's Bundesliga remained Europe's most profitable league with operating profits of £154m, followed by the Premier League, with operating profits of £98m.
The firm's 22nd Annual Review of Football Finance also reveals that the revenue of the top 92 clubs in English football exceeded £3bn for the first time during the same period. It calculates the government's tax take from these clubs at around £1.3bn.
Dan Jones, partner in the sports business group at Deloitte, said: 'English club football's profile, exposure and increasingly global interest have continued to drive revenue growth for the top clubs. The combined revenue of the Premier League clubs increased by 4%, with another year of impressive commercial revenue growth, largely focussed among the highest ranked Premier League clubs, and relatively stable matchday and broadcast revenues.'
Deloitte forecasts that Premier League clubs' revenue will have grown by a further 5% to £2.5bn in 2012/13. It is predicting a significant increase of around £600m, almost 25%, in 2013/14, which is the first season of the Premier League's new broadcast deals. The firm says projected revenue will then top £3bn for the first time.
Almost 75% of the Premier League clubs' revenue increase in 2011/12 was spent on wages, which increased by £64m (4%) to £1.7bn and resulted in the overall Premier League clubs' wages to revenue ratio remaining at 70%.
Of the £2.4bn net debt Deloitte identified in the Premier League, 59% (£1.4bn) is in the form of non-interest bearing 'soft loans' of which around 90% related to three clubs - Chelsea (£895m), Newcastle United (£267m) and Queens Park Rangers (£93m).
Deloitte's research shows that on the positive side of the balance sheet, Premier League clubs recorded a carrying value of tangible fixed assets of almost £1.9bn. The firm says this reflects the huge investment in facilities seen over the past two decades, and, in addition, a carrying value of player registrations of around £1.1bn.
