The business of stadium redevelopment seems to have picked up towards the second half of 2024 across the UK, Spain, Italy and others.
- The expansion of Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium, which is targeted at increasing its capacity by 7,900 to nearly 62,000 seats, is progressing.
- Manchester United released imagery of its proposed Trafford Park area regeneration, which includes a new 100,000-seater stadium
- Leeds United unveiled plans to expand Elland Road Stadium’s capacity
- Luton Town FC’s development arm submitted a planning application for a new 25,000-capacity stadium.
- In January 2025, Valencia CF began resumption of work on the Nou Mestalla
- Both AC Milan and Inter had long expressed interest in moving away from the iconic San Siro and building their own homes. The talks with Milan authorities have progressed well as of December 2024
There are many such examples of increased interest in stadium redevelopment, immaterial whether building a new one or increasing the capacity of their existing one. Essentially, it’s a step with two major goals, one, increasing revenue becoming and the other, adhering to the. Union of European Football Associations financial sustainability regulations introduced in June 2022.
It is becoming quite clear that a club cannot be solely dependent on the broadcast income and need to emphasize on increasing the commercial and stadium revenue streams. In this blog, we look at growth in matchday revenues and study Real Madrid’s increase in this revenue stream.
Big Five Leagues
The average share of matchday revenue stream in the ‘big five’ league clubs’ total revenue was 14% in 2022/23, increasing by barely 1% since 2018/19 (we will consider pre-pandemic period revenue as benchmark because matchday revenue in the years in between were severely affected by pandemic shutdown). The curious thing is the rate of increase of matchday revenue is more than that of the total revenue. Total aggregate revenue in 22/23 of big five league clubs increased by 15% over 2018/19. However, within the same period the matchday revenue stream increased by 20%. There could be mainly two reasons for the faster rate of growth:
- The new European competition formats being introduced for the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League is designed to increase the number of matches as well as the number of participating clubs. A rise in the number of matches automatically drives the clubs’ matchday revenue.
- Increase in ticket prices could be the other possible reason. An average ticket price for football matches across Premier League in the UK was estimated to be £31 which can be estimated to be anywhere between £45-£60 today.
Within the leagues, however, it’s a mix of situations. Comparing revenues between 18/19 (pre-pandemic) and 22/23, here are some interesting observations:
- LaLiga matchday revenue growth at 3% is slightly lower than that of the total revenue growth at 5% implying the two biggest clubs, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, are the driving factors in matchday revenue. A similar situation can be seen at Ligue 1.
- Bundesliga clubs’ total revenue grew at a much higher rate of 15% than the matchday revenue stream at 4% implying ticketing prices have not changed too much.
- In case of Serie A clubs, the situation is completely opposite to Bundesliga. Matchday revenue stream grew at a whopping 53% while the total revenue grew by a modest 14%.
- In Premier League, matchday revenue grew by 28% while the total revenue grew by 19%.
20 Highest Revenue Generating Clubs
For the 20 highest revenue generating clubs, contributions of matchday revenues have increased significantly with each passing year. The biggest growths were seen post pandemic, in 21/22 and 22/23. In 23/24 the aggregate matchday revenue of the 20 clubs crossed €2bn for the first time grossing 18% in the total revenue. For context, in 2018/19, the share of matchday revenue stream was 16%.
Further, matchday revenue of the top ten clubs grew by 12% whereas it grew by 8% for the next 10 clubs. 8 clubs reported matchday revenues over €100mn and four clubs reported negative growth.
The largest increase of 103% is reported by Real Madrid with the new expanded stadium was achieved thanks to increased stadium capacity, new luxury VIP boxes and a more attractive ticket offer for fans. The stadium, though, is undergoing works and is expected to be fully complete in 2024/25 which will to the revenues in a significant manner.
In Conclusion
The Real Madrid success story has been prompting several clubs to create their own stadium atmosphere and experience as per their standards and if done properly, is scheduled to add significantly in their total revenue. The factors involved in matchday revenue stream is completely controlled by the clubs and with a distinct focus, the revenue can substantially increase. When Newcastle United FC extended their stadium capacity to 52,000 in 2000, it was the 2nd biggest in England and matchday income made up 45% of its total income.
Clubs will have to be creative in this aspect and look for inspirational ideas out-of-the-box. From stadium redevelopment to events on matchday, opportunities are unlimited!
