Latest news with #EuropeanClubFinanceandInvestmentLandscape
New York Times
10-03-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Liverpool's new Adidas kit deal explained: What it means for revenue, transfers and next season
Liverpool will wear the three stripes of Adidas from 2025-26 after announcing a multi-year partnership with the sportswear brand. The move, from August 1, is another step towards increasing commercial revenue and follows on from a five-year deal with Nike. The Athletic takes a closer look at the link-up and what it means… GO DEEPER Liverpool announce multi-year Adidas kit deal This is a lucrative, significantly enhanced deal which, for a club of Liverpool's size, is no great surprise. Now back in the Champions League and currently on track to win the Premier League this season, the Reds are in a strong position of power to negotiate with their partners. Kit deals rarely reduce in value when on-field performance improves, so Liverpool are set up nicely. Advertisement Under the current terms with Nike, Liverpool receive a flat fee of £30million ($38.7m) per season, plus royalties of 20 per cent on all net sales of club merchandise, which lifts the overall figure beyond £60m ($77.5m). The exact length of the new deal has not been disclosed and the size of the increase will be dependent on performance and global sales. Previous kit deals with Nike and New Balance have been five years in length. Let's start with Manchester United (insert 15th-place joke here) first because despite their struggles in the Premier League of late, they still hold the record for a Premier League kit deal after signing with Adidas for a decade in July 2023. That contract was worth about £900m ($1.16bn), or £90m ($116m) a season, but could be reduced if they fail to achieve certain performance-related targets. UEFA's latest European Club Finance and Investment Landscape study shows that Liverpool and Manchester United ranked side by side for 2023-24 when it came to analysing kit and merchandise revenue. The report says that both clubs generated €146m (£122.6m/$158m at current exchange rates) from this particular area last season with only Barcelona (€171m), Bayern Munich (€171m) and Real Madrid (€196m) — who have the most lucrative kit deal in the world at around £102m ($132m) a year — placed higher. Liverpool's latest deal is expected to be worth a similar amount to their nearest rivals who include Manchester City and Arsenal. City agreed a 10-year deal with Puma worth around £650m (£65m a season) in 2019. Arsenal's eight-year deal with Adidas was reported to be worth around £600m (£75m a season) when it was agreed in 2022. Landing a deal with the Premier League champions-in-waiting is a huge win for any brand and Adidas will be particularly pleased to take a top partner off their long-standing rivals Nike. Advertisement Adidas already provide kits for the current La Liga and Bundesliga champions, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich respectively, as well as Juventus, Arsenal and Manchester United, so Liverpool are joining the elite in linking up with the German sportswear giant. Adidas say they are excited to work with Liverpool again after joining forces between 1985-1996 and 2006-2012. A number of first-team players including Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Curtis Jones, Darwin Nunez, Alexis Mac Allister, Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz and Ryan Gravenberch also have existing relationships with Adidas, so the club deal is likely to strengthen those in the future. It's an unusual arrangement as new kit deals typically start in June to cover the entire pre-season period. Take Champions League rivals Aston Villa as an example. When they ditched Castore for Adidas last year, although the kit was not released until the final week in July, their partnership with Adidas started in June. It's likely that the terms of Liverpool's former contract with Nike have played a part in the new start date. Nike's five-year deal had been due to start in June 2020 but was delayed due to the global pandemic with Liverpool completing the extended 2019-20 title-winning season in their New Balance kit before making the switch. The late start date means that Liverpool are set to begin their pre-season schedule in the current Nike kit before officially making the move just two weeks before the 2025-26 season gets under way. In a very nice place and with the potential to continue growing through a new marketing plan with Adidas on board. The latest set of accounts showed that commercial revenue increased by £36m to £308m with strong growth in partnerships and retail. Lucrative deals with UPS, Google Pixel, Peloton and Orion Innovation were signed during this period, with Kodansha and Carlsberg extending their existing partnerships. Advertisement Retail also achieved record results across its seven global locations, including opening a new store in Dublin, so the new link-up is exciting for a variety of reasons. In simple terms, more money into the club means a greater opportunity to reinvest in other areas. Liverpool's past two transfer windows have been quiet, yet head coach Arne Slot says plans are under way to address a number of areas in the summer. The strong commercial performance will provide a solid platform for Liverpool to remain competitive and start preparing the next stage of the squad-building process. Maximising every revenue stream remains essential to do this. Details of the new kits — home and away — will be revealed via official Liverpool and Adidas channels and available to purchase from August 1, 2025. GO DEEPER Inside the underground world of fake football shirts (Top photos: Liverpool principal owner John Henry and Virgil van Dijk; both via Getty Images)
CNN
07-03-2025
- Business
- CNN
Chelsea's 2024 squad was the most expensive in European history, says UEFA report
Chelsea's squad at the end of the 2024 financial year was the most expensive ever assembled in Europe in terms of transfer fees, according to a report released by governing body UEFA. The 'European Club Finance and Investment Landscape' report said Chelsea spent 1.656 billion euros ($1.79 billion) on combined transfer costs. That comfortably surpassed the value of Manchester United's squad in 2023, which cost 1.42 billion euros to assemble, and the 1.33 billion euros spent by Real Madrid, which was the highest squad cost in 2020. Chelsea have signed 41 players since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital bought the club in 2022, but the west London club's big-money transfers have not translated to significant on-field success, as Chelsea finished sixth in the Premier League last season and are currently fifth. According to the report which analyzes all of Europe's top divisions, Real Madrid (1.073 billion euros), Manchester City (854 million euros), Paris St.-Germain (808 million euros), Manchester United (771 million euros) and Bayern Munich (765 million euros) had the highest revenues in 2023. The Premier League had nine teams among the top-20 earning clubs, with an average revenue of 357 million euros and approximate aggregate revenue of 7.15 billion euros. Spain's LaLiga was second with revenues of 3.7 billion euros, with Germany's Bundesliga (3.6 billion euros), Italy's Serie A (2.9 billion euros) and France's Ligue 1 (2.4 billion euros) rounding out the top five. The top 20 clubs have been relatively stable across the last decade, with all of the current top 20 featuring in the top 25 in 2014. English clubs reported just over 7.1 billion euros of revenue in 2023, but the size of the top clubs meant the mean club revenue (357 million euros) is considerably higher than the median (10-11th) club revenue of 245 million euros. 'This 'typical' median English club revenue has 60% more revenue than the typical German club and three times the revenue of the typical club in Italy and Spain, principally due to the large TV revenue distributions enjoyed by all top division clubs in England,' the report said. Europe's 700-plus top-division clubs recorded aggregate revenue of 26.8 billion euros in 2023, with England's 20 top-flight clubs reporting almost double the revenue (97% more) than either the second and third highest leagues in 2023, Spain and Germany. England and Germany have by far the largest attendance figures, which is reflected in their median gate revenues of 29.1 million euros and 23.7 million euros, respectively. Arsenal (153 million), Manchester United (129 million), Tottenham (123 million), and Liverpool (108 million) were among the eight European clubs that reported more than 100 million euros in gate revenue in 2023.
CNN
07-03-2025
- Business
- CNN
Chelsea's 2024 squad was the most expensive in European history, says UEFA report
Chelsea's squad at the end of the 2024 financial year was the most expensive ever assembled in Europe in terms of transfer fees, according to a report released by governing body UEFA. The 'European Club Finance and Investment Landscape' report said Chelsea spent 1.656 billion euros ($1.79 billion) on combined transfer costs. That comfortably surpassed the value of Manchester United's squad in 2023, which cost 1.42 billion euros to assemble, and the 1.33 billion euros spent by Real Madrid, which was the highest squad cost in 2020. Chelsea have signed 41 players since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital bought the club in 2022, but the west London club's big-money transfers have not translated to significant on-field success, as Chelsea finished sixth in the Premier League last season and are currently fifth. According to the report which analyzes all of Europe's top divisions, Real Madrid (1.073 billion euros), Manchester City (854 million euros), Paris St.-Germain (808 million euros), Manchester United (771 million euros) and Bayern Munich (765 million euros) had the highest revenues in 2023. The Premier League had nine teams among the top-20 earning clubs, with an average revenue of 357 million euros and approximate aggregate revenue of 7.15 billion euros. Spain's LaLiga was second with revenues of 3.7 billion euros, with Germany's Bundesliga (3.6 billion euros), Italy's Serie A (2.9 billion euros) and France's Ligue 1 (2.4 billion euros) rounding out the top five. The top 20 clubs have been relatively stable across the last decade, with all of the current top 20 featuring in the top 25 in 2014. English clubs reported just over 7.1 billion euros of revenue in 2023, but the size of the top clubs meant the mean club revenue (357 million euros) is considerably higher than the median (10-11th) club revenue of 245 million euros. 'This 'typical' median English club revenue has 60% more revenue than the typical German club and three times the revenue of the typical club in Italy and Spain, principally due to the large TV revenue distributions enjoyed by all top division clubs in England,' the report said. Europe's 700-plus top-division clubs recorded aggregate revenue of 26.8 billion euros in 2023, with England's 20 top-flight clubs reporting almost double the revenue (97% more) than either the second and third highest leagues in 2023, Spain and Germany. England and Germany have by far the largest attendance figures, which is reflected in their median gate revenues of 29.1 million euros and 23.7 million euros, respectively. Arsenal (153 million), Manchester United (129 million), Tottenham (123 million), and Liverpool (108 million) were among the eight European clubs that reported more than 100 million euros in gate revenue in 2023.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How much do Premier League clubs make from tickets?
Football fans can be tribal. But when it comes to ticket prices, there is unity. "We are all fighting the same fight on ticket prices," said Manchester United Supporters' Trust CEO Duncan Drasdo. "Clubs are exploiting loyalty and fans are united in saying enough is enough." When 19 of the Premier League's 20 clubs raised their ticket prices before the 2024-25 season, the Football Supporters' Association (FSA) launched a campaign called 'Stop Exploiting Loyalty'. Those protests have grown again this season, with some clubs removing concessionary discounts for the elderly and young people - and teams like Arsenal announcing increases for 2025-26. The cost of competing for trophies, increasing operational expenses, and the threat of complying with financial regulations, have all been given as reasons for price hikes. BBC Sport has analysed a new Uefa report showing the league's financial power and how much clubs make from tickets - but also the challenge of increased staffing levels and expensive running costs. Premier League clubs made a total of almost 1bn euros (£830m) from selling tickets to home matches in 2023, Uefa's European Club Finance and Investment Landscape report shows. That figure is growing by about 10% per year, and is almost double that of Spain's La Liga (£481m) and Germany's Bundesliga (£430m). The report uses a mixture of full financial reporting of more than 700 clubs for 2023, plus 2024 figures from 130 of Europe's biggest clubs. Of the 10 clubs who generated the most income from gate receipts in 2024, six are English. The same six Premier League clubs feature in the top 12 for another ticketing metric, which measures the money earned per fan, per ticket. "What the figures show is that English top-flight clubs are doing very well financially in a whole number of different metrics," says Tom Greatrex, chair of the FSA. "Healthy ticket revenue shows people are wanting to go - but also shows the ratcheting up of ticket prices in the past few years. That is manifesting itself in the protests and disenchantment we've seen." The report also points out that "stadium expansions and/or increases in premium seating and hospitality have also doubled gate revenues at Paris St-Germain, Bayern [Munich], Liverpool and Manchester City since 2009". Arsenal and Tottenham's positions are helped by sales of high-value hospitality seats at modern stadiums in London - one of the world's most-visited cities. "What we have seen clubs do through stadium expansion is a huge focus on those seats being hospitality," says Dan Plumley, senior lecturer in sport finance at Sheffield Hallam University. "On a basic financial level it makes sense, because you can generate more from that than a baseline seat. "But if that is stopping your more average fan getting a ticket, that is something clubs are going to have to grapple with." The report states the average amount made per fan from tickets is £29-£37 "for the majority of clubs". Fans from four rival clubs to protest at ticket prices Man Utd fans criticise ticket prices - as club reveals manager change costs Premier League ticket price rises - what the fans think The Uefa report paints a similar picture to other research such as the annual Deloitte Money League - with Premier League clubs bringing in far more revenue (£6.2bn in 2023) than other European leagues. However, English clubs reported a combined loss of £728m before tax. TV rights deals are showing signs of plateauing, so clubs need to maximise matchday income and commercial and sponsorship revenues to try to offset significant spending on transfers, wages and running costs in order to turn a profit. The report outlines some eye-watering spending figures: Premier League clubs spent £4bn on player wages in 2023, almost double second-placed Spain (£2.1bn). Four European clubs have squads that cost more than 1bn euros (£830m) to assemble by the end of 2024, and all are English - Chelsea (1.7bn euros/£1.4bn), Manchester City (1.3bn euros/£1.1bn), Manchester United (1.1bn euros/£920m), and Arsenal (1bn euros/£840m). Chelsea's 2024 squad was found to be "comfortably the most expensive ever assembled", 24% higher than the previous record - the 2020 Real Madrid squad. The report also says Chelsea spent almost 2bn euros (£1.7bn) in transfer fees in the five-year period to 2024. Four of the five most profitable clubs - by pre-tax profits - in 2024 were German: Bayern (£53m), Borussia Dortmund (£41m), Lazio (£34m), Leipzig (£31m), Eintracht Frankfurt (£27m). Three of the five least profitable clubs in 2024 - by pre-tax losses - were English: Juventus (£164m), Chelsea (£93m), Aston Villa (£84m), Roma (£63m), Liverpool (£55m). Plumley says: "Each individual club will have its own reasons for doing it, but raising ticket prices doesn't shift the dial massively in terms of the overall picture of the finances. "I get that costs have gone up, we understand that side of the equation, but this is where it really grinds with fans." Manchester United's controversial plans to make up to 450 redundancies, cut about 39% of its workforce and "return the club to profitability" have put a sharper focus on how many people are actually needed to run a football club - and the operating costs involved. While transfer spending remains a club's biggest outgoing, the report says high inflation in areas such as utilities, plus the wages spent on more employees to expand commercial activity, is biting. Operating costs have risen by 12% across Europe, with a total of £1.5bn spent in the Premier League in 2023, almost £500m higher than second-placed Germany Operating costs plus non-player wages absorb just under half the revenue of big-five European league clubs In 2024, six Premier League teams featured in the top 10 for money spent on operating costs. "Operations costs have increased - that's fair," Greatrex says. "But increasing ticket prices way beyond the level of inflation, year after year, which is what has started to happen with most clubs in the Premier League - and then trying to claim that PSR or financial fair play are the reason - is the clubs treating people as though they're idiots." Salaries paid to non-footballer staff members have also risen sharply. The average top 20 club in Europe has 970 full-time employees - Barcelona have the most with 1,781 Four Premier League teams have more than 1,000 full-time employees - Man Utd, Brighton, Liverpool and Man City Premier League clubs employed a total of 11,081 full-time employees by the end of 2023 English top-flight clubs paid a total of £1bn in non-player wages in 2023. That total, which includes wages paid to staff members such as coaches, media departments and ticket office personnel, is more than twice that of second-placed Germany There was 19% inflation on non-player wages across Europe in 2023 and for the biggest clubs, head coach wages rose on average 21% in 2024 That compares to a more modest average growth of 4.5% in player wages in 2024, which the report said was "essential for financial stability as clubs struggle with strong inflation". The logic behind the rise in staffing numbers varies per club. Brighton, for example, employ a notoriously vast recruitment and scouting operation. The report states that employee growth can be explained by clubs' desire to wring more from commercial and sponsorship deals. Across Europe, income from commercial and sponsorship deals has risen by 39% since 2019. "Commercial income is almost untapped in terms of potential and there is no restriction on the number of deals you can sign," Plumley says. "But you have to throw more resource at that. "There are more roles now in football clubs than ever before. Some of them are quite forward thinking. "It's a natural consequence of how the game has evolved, because everyone is pushing for growth, growth, growth."
Reuters
06-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Chelsea's 2024 squad most expensive ever in Europe, says UEFA report
MANCHESTER, England, March 6 (Reuters) - Chelsea's squad at the end of the 2024 financial year was the most expensive ever assembled in Europe in terms of transfer fees, according to a report released by governing body UEFA. The "European Club Finance and Investment Landscape" report said Chelsea spent 1.656 billion euros ($1.79 billion) on combined transfer costs. That comfortably surpassed the value of Manchester United's squad in 2023, which cost 1.42 billion euros to assemble, and the 1.33 billion euros spent by Real Madrid, which was the highest squad cost in 2020. Chelsea have signed 41 players since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital bought the club in 2022, but the west London club's big-money transfers have not translated to significant on-field success, as Chelsea finished sixth in the Premier League last season and are currently fifth. According to the report which analyses all of Europe's top divisions, Real Madrid (1,073 million euros), Manchester City (854 million euros), Paris St Germain (808 million euros), Manchester United (771 million euros) and Bayern Munich (765 million euros) had the highest revenues in 2023. The Premier League had nine teams among the top-20 earning clubs, with an average revenue of 357 million euros and approximate aggregate revenue of 7.15 billion euros. Spain's LaLiga was second with revenues of 3.7 billion euros, with Germany's Bundesliga (3.6 billion euros), Italy's Serie A (2.9 billion euros) and France's Ligue 1 (2.4 billion euros) rounding out the top five. The top 20 clubs have been relatively stable across the last decade, with all of the current top 20 featuring in the top 25 in 2014. English clubs reported just over 7.1 billion euros of revenue in 2023, but the size of the top clubs meant the mean club revenue (357 million euros) is considerably higher than the median (10-11th) club revenue of 245 million euros. "This 'typical' median English club revenue has 60% more revenue than the typical German club and three times the revenue of the typical club in Italy and Spain, principally due to the large TV revenue distributions enjoyed by all top division clubs in England," the report said. Europe's 700-plus top-division clubs recorded aggregate revenue of 26.8 billion euros in 2023, with England's 20 top-flight clubs reporting almost double the revenue (97% more) than either the second and third highest leagues in 2023, Spain and Germany. England and Germany have by far the largest attendance figures, which is reflected in their median gate revenues of 29.1 million euros and 23.7 million euros, respectively. Arsenal (153 million), Manchester United (129), Tottenham (123), and Liverpool (108) were among the eight European clubs that reported more than 100 million euros in gate revenue in 2023. ($1 = 0.9234 euros)
