The Premier League's financial dominance over their continental counterparts has been put into new focus by a report that says 10 English clubs are among the 30 most valuable in Europe.
La Liga giants Real Madrid and Barcelona sandwich Manchester United in the top three of the annual Football Benchmark Enterprise Value report but the Premier League ’s dominance is underlined by a combined value of €9.4bn compared to Spain as the next best on €5.4bn.
Football Benchmark asks whether the Premier League may already be a Super League and points towards its broadcasting revenue on top of resilience during the pandemic as key reasons for its ability to pull ahead of the other big UEFA leagues.
“While Premier League clubs enjoy advantages in terms of matchday revenues to some extent and even larger benefits from their greater commercial appeal stemming from many factors, including the brand’s global power, what really sets them apart are highly remunerative broadcasting agreements,” the report says.
“Unlike other Big 5 leagues that all agreed to discounted deals during their domestic TV rights negotiations, the Premier League successfully locked in their current domestic package without any value loss and increased their compensation from international broadcasting, surpassing income generated from national broadcasters for the first time.
“The health crisis also revealed the greater strength and resilience of the Premier League on the transfer market, as the volume of English first division clubs’ transactions did not significantly change compared to pre-COVID times.”
Despite a shambolic season that saw United finish in sixth place and Erik ten Hag arrive as the new manager, the Old Trafford club remain the most valuable club in England with a value of £2.4bn. Champions League finalists Liverpool are fifth overall with a value of £2.15bn, just ahead of title winners Manchester City on £2.1bn.
Chelsea are seventh on the list with a value of £1.8bn as the record-breaking takeover led by US billionaire Todd Boehly nears completion after the government signed off on the proposed deal to buy the club from sanctioned Russian Roman Abramovich. The deal is worth £2.5bn initially but with commitments to invest a further £1.75bn in the club’s infrastructure.
“An expectation of growth returning to ‘normal’ following the difficult pandemic period, as well as a further development of broadcasting rights at domestic and UEFA level, thanks to the new competition format starting from 2024, could be among the crucial factors contributing to the difference between price and value,” Football Benchmark said.
Europa League semi-finalists West Ham United are one of three new clubs on the list, in 16th, with a value of £455m. Aston Villa, who have already agreed the signings of three players weeks before the transfer window officially opens, are placed in 30th on £259m.
Football Benchmark’s most valuable clubs (selected): 1 Real Madrid, 2 Manchester United, 3 Barcelona, 4 Bayern Munich, 5 Liverpool, 6 Manchester City, 7 Chelsea, 8 Paris Saint-Germain, 9 Tottenham Hotspur, 10 Juventus, 11 Arsenal, 16 West Ham United, 17 Leicester City, 22 Everton, 30 Aston Villa.
