Football: TV revenue – jealous view of the Premier League

The Premier League is increasing its revenue from the sale of media rights even in difficult economic times. The competition remains envious of England and worried about a market that will be even more competitive in the future.

In a way, however, it is also good news for the Bundesliga that the Premiere League achieved record revenue from the sale of media rights. The almost eight billion euros that will be poured into the coffers of the English clubs for four seasons from 2025 will ultimately also end up in the accounts of the German clubs.

In the last transfer period alone, Bundesliga clubs received around 450 million euros from England. But clubs cannot plan seriously with such proceeds, unlike contractually agreed sums from the sale of media rights. In this respect, it is not good news for the Bundesliga and other top European leagues that the already hurried Premier League is concluding a record deal, even in generally economically challenging times.

Almost two billion euros per season – on the national market alone

The deal means that the Premier League will receive the equivalent of around 1.95 billion euros per season in the 2025/2026 up to and including 2028/2029 seasons.

That’s only a moderate increase, but an increase nonetheless. In Italy, Serie A recently signed a deal that brings in 900 million euros per season, 27.5 million less than before.

New TV contract Serie A – “Death of Italian football”

“This means the death of Italian football”rumbled Aurelio De Laurentiis, the president of SSC Napoli, who is also known for his failures and exaggerations.

France cancels auction

The situation in France for the top league is a little worse than in Italy. The French league association LFP wanted to earn one billion euros per season instead of the previous 624 million from the sale of media rights. But in the first round of tendering there was no interested party willing to pay anything close to this amount. The auction was canceled and negotiations are now underway with individual interested parties.

The starting position for the league is modest, because on the one hand the championship fight is quite boring because the Paris Saint-Germain club, which is financed by the state of Qatar, usually wins the title, and on the other hand the LFP does not collect the entire amount.

In France, 13 percent goes to an investor – forever

The French have already carried out what is planned in Germany. An investor, the private equity company CVC, has come in and will in future receive 13 percent of the media revenue per season – with no time limit. For this deal, which was heavily criticized by some club representatives in France, the LFP received 1.5 billion euros.

At most, DFL expects revenues to remain consistently high

In Germany, the media rights for four seasons starting from the 2025/26 season will probably be awarded in the first half of 2024. A possible investor, who also comes from the private equity sector, could play a role in this process. The German Football League (DFL) hopes that a possible strategic partner will ensure better marketing, i.e. higher revenues.

The 36 clubs from the Bundesliga and 2nd league currently receive a good 1.1 billion euros per season. Also because possible and probable bidders are said to have economic problems, some experts expect that the DFL will have to plan with less money on the national market in the future, some of which would then flow to an investor.

However, the percentage would be lower and the term would be limited to 20 years. However, the investor’s payment would be up to one billion euros lower. An important vote is coming up at a general meeting of the DFL on December 11th. If, in contrast to May, a two-thirds majority is found, a deal with a private equity company is likely to be forthcoming.

Growth potential on international market

Even the DFL admits that given the current economic situation, no significant increase in the sale of media rights on the national market can be expected. The expectations for the international market are different. The DFL sees significant growth potential here with its two new managing directors Marc Lenz and Steffen Merkel.

However, the base value is also quite low, because according to the benchmarking report by the European association UEFA published in February 2023, the DFL only receives a good 170 million euros from international contracts per season. In the Spanish La Liga with the two mainstays FC Barcelona and Real Madrid it is more than 800 million euros. The Premier League is also far ahead in this ranking. It receives well over a billion euros per season on the international market. There are countries in which the rights holders pay more money to be able to show Premier League games than games from the national top league. In Asia the differences are serious, but this also happens in Europe.

DFL is looking at Spain instead of England

The DFL doesn’t even look at the Premier League in its efforts to keep up with other leagues. Senior officials admit there is no chance of competing with England, at least in the medium term. The DFL’s aim – also with a view to potential investors – is to ensure that leagues like those from Portugal do not come any closer and leagues like those from Spain do not allow leagues like those from Spain to move further away. The Spaniards signed a contract that is valid since 2022 and runs until 2027. It brings in 1.2 billion euros annually on the national market.

Tougher market due to reforms at FIFA and UEFA

The fight for billions on the media rights market is becoming tougher for representatives of the national leagues – England and, to a lesser extent, Spain are the exceptions. This has to do with reforms at the continental associations and the world association FIFA.

The men’s World Cup was expanded to 48 teams for the 2026 edition. That could make the rights significantly more expensive. There will also be a Club World Cup with 32 teams from 2025 and then probably every four years. The tender for the rights is pending.

The European association UEFA has reformed the Champions League. From 2024 it will be played in a league system with 36 instead of the previous 32 teams. Although UEFA reduced its expectations of earning five instead of 3.5 million euros from the European elite league in the future, it should still be 4.4 billion euros, significantly more than now.

Gloomy prospects with one exception

The market is getting tougher, the prospects for the rest of Europe with the exception of England are bleak, envy of the Premier League is likely to be great, even if hundreds of the millions in the football economic cycle will end up in the accounts of clubs from the Bundesliga and Ligue 1, for example .