Regional football clubs generate over £300m in 2016/17

According to the 27th Annual Review of Football Finance from the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, Newcastle United, Sunderland and Middlesbrough generated combined revenues of £334m during 2016/17.

Almost three quarters of the revenues (£248m) came from the two Premier League clubs that season - Sunderland and Middlesbrough. They ranked 15th and 18th respectively in the Premier League income table.

Middlesbrough - Championship runners-up in 2015-16 - saw revenues increase by 458 per cent (from £21.8m to £121.5m) during their season in the Premier League.

The other two promoted clubs, Burnley and Hull City, saw revenue increases of 197 per cent and 179 per cent respectively.

Dan Jones, partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, said: “The financial results of the class of 2016/17 are the most impressive we have ever seen.

“Just a decade ago, 60 per cent of Premier League clubs were making an operating loss whereas in the 2016/17 season, all clubs were profitable.

“In addition, and for the first time ever, Premier League clubs’ revenues have grown at a faster rate than wages over a ten-year period.”

Despite their relegation, Middlesbrough reported the Premier League’s 11th highest operating profit (£35m), while only Burnley and Hull City had lower wage costs than Middlesbrough’s £64.9m.

Sunderland - also relegated in 2016/17 - ranked 7th in the Premier League for average attendance (41,173) and 13th for wage costs (£84.4m). The club had revenues of £126.4m.

Recently, Newcastle United recorded the Championship’s highest wage bill (£112m) on revenues of £86m, giving a wages/revenue ratio of 131 per cent.

The club’s average attendance of 51,114 was surpassed by only five clubs in the top two tiers of English football.

The 92 Premier League and Football League clubs recorded combined revenues in excess of £5.5bn for the 2016/17 season.

With a new broadcast cycle commencing in 2016/17 for Premier League clubs, the 20 clubs generated record revenues of £4.5bn, 25 per cent higher than in the previous season.

In the Championship, revenues grew 30 per cent to a record £720m in 2016/17. However, the trend for almost all of any revenue growth to be spent on wages has continued, with the Championship’s wages/revenue ratio of 99 per cent, albeit down from 100 per cent in 2017.

League 1 clubs increased revenue by seven per cent to £146m, while League 2 clubs’ revenue increased by six per cent to £91m.

Tim Bridge, a director in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, added: “Financially speaking, the three leagues below the Premier League are now considerably larger than their peers at equivalent levels in the football pyramid, anywhere in the world.

“In no small part, this is due to the financial success of the Premier League and the filtering down effect in the form of parachute and solidarity payments. Parachute payments to Championship clubs made up almost a third of that division’s revenue.”