SportBusiness.com

The review reveals that whilst the changes to the Premier League clubs’ financial results over the past three seasons have been fairly minimal, the combination of increases in revenue and reasonable wage cost control should see operating profits almost double to £260m in the 2007/08 season.
The 16th Annual Review of Football Finance also confirmed that the Premier League clubs remain by far the biggest earners in world football, with the top 20 clubs generating around £1.4 billion in turnover.
“We believe the relatively small changes in Premier League clubs’ financial results over the past three seasons represent the calm before the storm,” said Dan Jones, Partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte. “The new broadcasting rights deals - providing an additional £300m or so of revenue to the Premier League clubs in 2007/08, and other revenue increases, will drive overall turnover up to almost £1.8 billion.”
Player transfer spending this summer, Deloitte predicts, will again likely exceed £300m, while Premier League clubs’ total wages cost will still rise to over £1 billion in 2007/08.
Other key findings in the report highlighted English football’s financial strength compared to its European counterparts.
English football, says Deloitte, contributed around one quarter of the total revenue of the European football market of £8.7 billion in 2006. Premier League revenue of £1.4bn in 2005/06 beat second placed Serie A (£1bn). The other ‘big five’ leagues are in Germany (£0.8bn), Spain (£0.8bn) and France (£0.6bn).
Meanwhile, English football’s second-tier Championship clubs saw turnover grow four per cent to £318m (average of £13m per club) in 2005/06.
Below the top two divisions, “ the financial position remains very challenging," says Deloitte, “ but it has improved and stabilised over the past three to four years.
Appraising the future outlook for football finance, Alan Switzer, director in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, concluded: “English clubs will continue to lead the world financially. Whilst the players will be the main financial beneficiaries from the new TV deals, English clubs will continue to invest in their stadia and youth facilities, which is a vital element of a successful business strategy.
“Over 15 per cent of revenue generated by Premier League clubs since 1992/93 - over £1.7 billion - has been invested in facilities; the ‘shop window’ for the game. The contrast to facilities in countries like Italy is now stark.”