Commercial revenue, the money earned from establishing working partnerships with commercial entities, either through sponsorship or licensing, merchandising etc., is establishing itself as the primary driver of the club’s revenue. At a time when the value broadcast media rights is plateauing and in some cases, even declining, consequently the share of broadcast revenue, which once held the top spot, is giving its way to commercial revenue.
UEFA’s Benchmarking Report 2025 states that “commercial revenue is now a larger revenue contributor than TV with merchandising the strongest growing revenue segment”. This trend is only expected to continue as clubs explore new industry sectors for a variety of partnerships, newer markets adding the merchandising and licensing possibilities and shifting from the traditional mode as rapid digitization adds to the growth avenues.
In such a scenario, it is the bigger clubs having extended and global fan base and established infrastructure, who are better placed to maximizing the commercial revenue stream. It is therefore not a surprise that the aggregate commercial revenue of the 20 highest revenue generating clubs is almost 50% of the total commercial revenue generated by Europe’s 700+ top tier league clubs!
In this blog, we will look at the skewed concentration of commercial revenue across various European football leagues.
Top-Tier European Leagues
According to the UEFA European Club Financing and Licensing Report 2025, the aggregate commercial revenue generated by the 730+ top tier European clubs is €8.9bn in 2023 and is expected to grow by 12% in 2024, to approximate €9.96bn. Interestingly, commercial revenue is now a larger revenue contributor than broadcast revenue and merchandising is now the strongest growing revenue segment. Post pandemic period, from 2021, the commercial revenue stream has been growing at a healthy CAGR of 10%.
While it’s heartening to see the strong growth of commercial revenue, it is also true that the accumulated concentration of brand-pulling power in the twenty highest revenue generating clubs’ corner half of the entire commercial revenue generated by 730+ top tier European clubs. In FY23, of the estimated €8.9bn total commercial revenue, almost 50% or €4.43bn was accumulated by these twenty clubs and so will be in FY24.
Domination of High Revenue Clubs Within Leagues
The powerhouse clubs within each of the ‘big five’ leagues, incidentally all of them have been a part of the Deloitte Money League list of highest revenue generating clubs, are seen to be dominating in the commercial revenue stream with a very stark distinction.
In Premier League, the group of six clubs, have a whopping 78% share in the league’s aggregate commercial revenue in 23/24. In LaLiga, Real Madrid and Barcelona combined corner 71% share of the league’s commercial revenue. For Bundesliga, Bayern and Borussia Dortmund combined occupy 37% share while Juventus along with both the Milan clubs combined share almost 50% of the kitty. In Ligue 1, PSG alone covers up 25% of the market.
A head-to-head comparison between average commercial revenue of the high revenue generating clubs versus that of the balance clubs of the league gives a picture of the extent of gap between them. The situation at LaLiga is the most extreme amongst the five leagues. While the gap in other leagues are between 5X-8X multiples, which itself is a big extent, LaLiga shows a multiplier of 22X, an obnoxiously high value.
For the second-tier league clubs, the picture is even more dismal. Average commercial revenue per club in second tier of English, German and French leagues (from the published information by league federations) are as follows:
- EFL Championship – £13mn
- Bundesliga 2: €12mn
- Ligue 2: €9mn
Clubs with the top stature undoubtedly have the biggest commercial values and pull. That really puts them heads & tails above the rest of the clubs in their respective leagues, which begs the questions:
- Can the balance clubs ever reduce the gap with the high commercial revenue generating clubs?
- Are the leagues doing anything to support them in making these clubs increase their commercial proposition? Or, should they do?
- What should be the approach of the clubs who want to catch up?
- How does the second tier clubs increase their commercial appeal and value?
Way Forward
The term commercial incorporates a vast array of opportunities for the football clubs to explore and generate more revenue scopes. It is time to get out of the traditional sponsorship and licensing model and evaluate new methods. A few thought pointers could be:
- Clubs with global appeal and fan base along with an established infrastructure should segregate and utilise digital assets in their own way. A digital only content partnership for social media involving content for YouTube and short videos for TikTok / Instagram Reels and so on.
- For clubs with limited fan base can look at a shared-revenue model. Only a handful of local brands can find the commercial appeal of such clubs and instead of approaching each brand separately, they can instead look at a shared-revenue model for some of the brands who are looking at a value-led sponsorship push through football clubs might be a win-win for all stakeholders. This, of course, needs a strategic approach from all stakeholders.
- Stadium naming rights is another example of underutilized asset (See image below). Amongst 730+ European top tier league clubs, there is a visible lack of efforts towards utilizing stadium naming rights as revenue source. Except for Bundesliga, where 78% of the clubs have stadium naming rights partner, the rest of the ‘big five’ leagues have about 22% – 30% of the clubs who have secured naming rights partnership.
In Conclusion
The power of commercial revenue can make a club stronger and help them increase their growth substantially. The need of the hour is to revisit existing strategies and plan, implement and review an objective led marketing plan to develop the club’s commercial aspect.
Clubs with low commercial revenues will have to improvise and shake themselves to get out of their comfort zone and reach newer territories and turn themselves into a strong commercial property giving value to sponsor-partners. The growth in commercial revenue for the big five leagues is a testament to their consistent marketability and fan-retention strength. As the leagues grow and continue to increase their global presence, undoubtedly, the commercial revenue will continue to grow.
As mentioned, this revenue stream is completely under a club’s control with their innovation capacity being the only limiting factor.
We expect to see a continued growth.
