Over the last few years, especially in the post-pandemic period, matchday revenue has quietly become one of the most important and fastest growing revenue streams. Consider the accumulated matchday revenue in the 700+ European top tier-leagues, or ‘big five’ leagues or even the 20 highest revenue generating clubs, in each case the common thing is, its rate of growth is more than the rate of total revenue growth. CAGR or growth in 23/24 over 22/23, either way matchday revenue has grown more than their total revenue.
With the football media rights market value plateauing, 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-related revenue streams.
In this blog, we look at growth in matchday revenues at every level in European football.
European Top-tier Leagues
Matchday revenues, which contributed nearly 13% / €3.1bn in FY 2022 across 700+ top tier European clubs has increased by 29% to reach €4bn in FY 23, increasing its contributing share to 15%. Matchday revenues are further expected to grow by 11% to reach €4.4bn in FY24.
The takeout from the above data is its increasing rate of growth which is actually more than the overall revenue rate of growth. Matchday revenue grew by 8% in 23/24 over 22/23 and by 35% over 18/19 (we will consider pre-pandemic period revenue as benchmark because matchday revenue in the years in between were severely affected by pandemic shutdown) whereas the overall revenue grew by 6% over 22/23 and 28% over 18/19. In terms of CAGR also, matchday revenue grew by 5% in a six-year period whereas overall revenue grew by 4%.
See table below.
‘Big five’ Leagues
The top tier European league situation (given above) replicates in case of ‘big five’ leagues and the top twenty highest revenue generating clubs.
The average share of matchday revenue stream in the ‘big five’ league clubs’ cumulated revenue was 15% in 2023/24, increasing by 1% since 2018/19. 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 around 20% over 2018/19. However, within the same period the matchday revenue stream increased by 30%.
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 growth seen can be attributed to mainly two reasons:
- The new competition formats being introduced for the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League (formerly the UEFA Europa Conference League) will increase the number of matches as well as the number of participating clubs. A rise in the number of matches will drive improvements in 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.
Revenue per Spectator
‘Revenue Per Available Room’, a hotel industry metric, measuring inventory (available accommodations) being sold at a hotel and how much revenue is being generated from those bookings.
In football, an equivalent metric ‘Revenue per Spectator’ can be addressed to indicate the revenue generated per seat per match in the stadium. As an educational and indicative exercise, we took the total audiences for each league (number of home matches X attendance) and divided it by the total matchday revenue. Since this does not include European competition matches or any other professional league cup (like FA Cup etc.) matches, please treat this an inexact calculation just for indicative references. Comparing the calculation data for each of the ‘big five’ leagues between 2018/19 and 2023/24, we get some very interesting observations.
Overall, match attendances dropped sharply in 23/24 after witnessing a sustained growth post pandemic but matchday revenue grew drastically.
- In Premier League, attendance grew by 1% in 23/24 over 18/19 whereas revenue increased by 36%.
- Bundesliga witnessed a decrease in attendance by 9% whereas matchday revenue increased by 28%. Similarly, Ligue 1 saw the attendance decrease by 6% but matchday revenue increase by 35%.
- LaLiga witnessed a different trend where match attendance increased by 7% but revenue increased only by 1%.
The below charts display variations in attendances and matchday revenue growth by leagues as well as the ‘revenue per spectator’ metrics comparing 18/19 with 23/24.
In Conclusion
Sustained growth in matchday revenue will be very crucial in the coming years. 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, club will have to look at multiple opportunities without overtly affecting fan-wallets too much.
This makes a strong case for stadium redevelopment a priority. The Real Madrid / FC Barcelona success story should prompt other clubs to create a stadium atmosphere and experience which is scheduled to add significantly in their total revenue.
