💶 I Read the Deloitte Money League so you Don't have to

Deloitte are a consulting firm that releases their Money List every year.

This list ranks every European Soccer Club in order of revenue and gives some commentary into the financial trends across the Top 5 European Leagues.

It’s a lengthy read at times so I read it all for you and have digested the three biggest takeaways.

The best place to start is with the club at the top of the mountain!

1. Real Madrid are on a Tear

For the first time ever, a football team has made more than €1bn in a single year.

Real Madrid surpassed the €1 billion revenue mark for the 2023/24 season— a monumental achievement and a testament to their dominance on-and-off the pitch.

It’s pretty scary to think that Real Madrid:

• Generate the most revenue from any football club in Europe

• Have won La Liga in 3 of the last 5 seasons

• Are the current Champions League winners

AND have maybe the healthiest collection of the young talent in the world.

If you think ‘past, present and future’ its difficult for a football club to be dominant in all three at the same time. Generally, you trade two of them in exchange for being bad in the other.

Real Madrid under Florentino Perez are smashing all three and from the perspective of a curious observer like me, its fascinating to watch.

The biggest game-changer for them in this accounting period? Is their stadium…

2. Stadiums are big business

The state-of-the-art Bernabéu is a money-printing machine. Matchday revenue for Real Madrid skyrocketed in the first full season after completion. So too did money from non-footballing events. Real Madrid now has the best stadium in Europe—and the financial fruits are already showing.

Other clubs also benefited. In this calculation window:

• French teams saw a revenue boost from hosting Rugby World Cup games

• German clubs saw boosts from hosting EURO 2024 matches

As most broadcast deals are currenly locked for a number of seasons, matchday revenue and commercial revenue are the two pieces of “controllable” revenue streams for football clubs.

Clubs like Chelsea are stifled by such limited opportunity with their proportionately small stadium. To give you an example:

• Chelsea Matchday Revenue: €93m

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• Tottenham Matchday Revenue: €123m

• Liverpool Matchday Revenue: €132m

• Arsenal Matchday Revenue: €153m

• Manchester United Matchday Revenue: €152m

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• Real Madrid Matchday Revenue: €248m!

You can now see why Jim Ratcliffe is so set on United building a completely new stadium experience at Old Trafford!

3. Commercial Revenue is the real separator

The top 10 clubs rely much more on commercial revenue than teams ranked 11 and below. Sponsorships, partnerships, and brand deals are again controllable elements that separate the elite from the rest.

If a club wants to join the big leagues, they need to think bigger than ticket sales or TV rights—they need a commercial strategy that competes globally.

Manchester United are the best at this. They lag behind some of their other European Rivals in commercial revenue but they still chow down a massive amount of money considering their on-the-pitch performance in recent years.

• Real Madrid Commercial Revenue: €482m

• Manchester United Commercial Revenue: €407m

• PSG Commercial Revenue: €391m

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• Manchester United Commercial Revenue: €360m

• Liverpool Commercial Revenue: €343m 

• Tottenham Commercial Revenue: €297m

It is truly outstanding the commercial pull of United regardless of European or Domestic success.

Makes you wonder what would happen if they managed to find their form…!

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The Deloitte Money League is an annual report breaking down the revenue of the top 30 European Football Clubs. You can read this years’ edition here.

I leave you today with an insane tweet about Tiger Woods.

What a man.

See you next week.