The Deloitte report for the 2023/2024 season signals reasons of optimism for Serie A: growing revenues, costs under control and an overall operating profit. But the other top championships in Europe run faster
Italian football continues to be sick, but the vital parameters of the Serie A bring some finally positive index so that the road to the restoration is long is long, but it has at least been undertaken. And that an important contribution, in addition to the results of the field, are also giving it the much contested properties made in the USA: they have not yet understood how to win, but under commercial revenues their work delivers the first concrete fruits to the budgets of the clubs and overall to the whole movement.
It is the photograph that emerges from the 34th edition of the Annual Review of Football Finance, published by Deloitte Sports Business Group. A dossier that turns on the headlights on the economic financial management of the Serie A according to the last budgets deposited, relating to the season that closed in June 2024, and compares them with the rest of Europe where – but it is not new – to recite the part of the rich remain the British of the Premier League.
Serie A 2023/2024: revenues, stadiums, commercial revenues, TV rights and final balance sheet
According to what emerged from the Deloitte report, in the 2023/2024 season, the Serie A clubs recorded a total increase in revenues of +2% compared to the year before, reaching the threshold of 2.9 billion euros. To tow the growth, important but not entirely satisfactory in an industrial sector that runs at the rest of Europe at greater speed, were above all commercial revenues (+9%), a billion euros have been touched.
A performance that made it possible to absorb the bad news, the one relating to the television rights that have marked a 2% contraction by descending to 1.5 billion euros. The reasons? Certainly the worst behavior in the UEFA manifestations of Italian teams compared to spring 2023, when we had brought finalists to all cups and a good number of semifinalists. But it should also be emphasized that the sports TV rights market is experiencing a moment of difficulty and contraction that not only interests the Serie A but also more advanced systems: the big broadcasters have budgets limited to be divided on an ever -growing offer.
Serie A 2023/2024, good news: stable costs and operating profit
In any case, the picture is less negative than it is publicly painted. According to the Deloitte dossier, in fact, from a financial point of view, the Serie A clubs in 2023/2024 showed signals of stabilization relating above all to the expenses for the engagements of the players and technical staff: they increased by 4% reaching 2 billion euros, but maintaining a ratio compared to total revenues of 68% considered fully sustainable.
The final result is that, for the second consecutive year, the Serie A has recorded a positive aggregate operating profit of around 40 million euros, while the losses for imposed are decreased by 22%, going down to 0.3 billion euros. They are not numbers to be celebrated, but the photograph of a football in which you must not necessarily go to loss or get into debt to be able to present yourself to the starting tapes.
The boom of commercial revenues for the (contested) properties made in the USA
Attention. It will not like how they design the sporting part of the respective teams, but the properties that come from the United States (in most cases investment funds) are doing well, their work from the point of view of the commercial enhancement of Italian football. The numbers of the Deloitt report that record a clear trend say so.
If it is true that overall commercial revenues increased by 9% reaching a billion euros (in 2022/23 there were 0.9), the agreements signed for the sponsorships of the North American property clubs and the increase in merchandising sales were mainly translated. The five Italian clubs with majority members of the United States or Canada – the passed Inter under the control of Oaktree is not part of it in May 2023 – recorded an average increase in commercial revenues of 26% compared to 2022/23, while the other reference clubs of the championship have increased commercial revenues by 7%.
Report Deloitte 2023/2024: the ranking of the revenues of the European Championships
Widening the gaze to Europe, which is the real engine of world football, from the Deloitte report that photographs the 2023/2024 season it emerges that the 5 Top League of the Old Continent – Premier League, Bundesliga, Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1 – have generated revenues for 20.4 billion euros, with an increase of +4%, exceeding the first time the threshold of 20 billion euros. The wait for 2024/2025 is that the wall of 21 billion euros in total is also demolished, only to stabilize also because of the enormous difficulties of the French Ligue1 in terms of television rights.
The ranking of revenues of the major European championships according to the analysis of the financial statements developed by Deloitte is as follows:
- Premier League – 7,353 billion euros
- Bundesliga – 3,797 billion euros
- Liga – 3,764 billion euros
- Serie A – 2,904 billion euros
- Ligue1 – 2,551 billion euros
Overall, the clubs of the five large European championships recorded an aggregate operating profit of 0.6 billion euros, second consecutive season not in red. The ratio between costs for wages and total revenues fell from 66% to 64% despite the generalized growth of the salaries of players and staff in all five large championships with the exception of the Spanish Liga.
“The attention to the development of stadiums and the diversification of commercial revenues” said Tim Bridge, partner of the Sports Business Group of Deloitte “has led to a growth in the European football market in the 2023/24 season. However, clubs and alloys cannot afford to lose sight of the new challenges, including the evolution of the regulatory panorama and the change in fans’ behavior”. “The pressure is always stronger for clubs” added Bridge “because they must be able to obtain additional revenues and at the same time to manage growing costs. More than ever, managers and owners must recognize the great responsibility they have in managing these activities, capturing the historical essence of a football club and at the same time honor the future for the new generations”.
