Europe’s top football clubs have taken a €1.1 billion decrease in revenues, according to the latest Deloitte Football Money League report.
The 12% decline on the prior season is attributed to a €937m (23%) drop in broadcast revenue, primarily due to the deferral of broadcast revenues to the financial year ending in 2020 and broadcaster rebates related to the disrupted 2019/20 season.
There was also a decline in matchday revenues, largely in line with the number of matches that were postponed.
The report goes on to detail the impact of the pandemic on the national leagues and their ability to monetise their product.
In France, what Deloitte describes as a “bold move” in selling its rights to Mediapro failed to pay off. The €780 million per season deal collapsed leaving the league to retender, with Canal Plus and beIN Sports to reclaim their lost rights.
Aside from the early termination of its agreements with Chinese broadcaster PPTV, the Premier League was able to quickly agree amicable arrangements regarding scheduling, match allocation and broadcast rights rebates with its domestic broadcast partners through the pandemic.
While in Spain, La Liga will be looking to continue the significant growth in domestic broadcast rights values when its enters the next domestic broadcast rights cycle in 2021.
Europe’s governing body UEFA achieved a 68% rise in rights for the Champion’s League in Germany, netting 130m per season. France increased by 19%, the Nordics by 113% and the Balkans 134%.
However, other markets including Spain and Italy were static or saw declines.
