Football remains debatable whether broadcast revenues are finally beginning to plateau, says Deloitte in its new report into the financing of football, titled Football Money League 2020. In this investigation, Barcelona is in top position with record revenues of €841 million, making it the first club to break the €800 million barrier. Between them the 20 highest earning football clubs in the world generated a record €9.3 billion, an 11% increase on 2018.
According to Deloitte, individual clubs have been able to increase revenues to at multiples of their respective countries GDP growth by simply participating in their country’s national league. However, there is evidence that kind of growth may about to become a thing of the past.
“International interest may continue to drive growth in the short- to medium-term, but unless there is a change in competitive dynamics, mature domestic markets will likely make it hard to achieve the double-digit growth rates of previous cycles,” says Deloitte.
Following the interest of telcos, the next phase of entrants might be players such as Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google to drive future growth. For example, Amazon has already acquired a package of broadcast rights of the Premier League, and it also has Champions League rights in Germany. Deloitte suggests the competitive dynamics of the market might lead clubs to go further with OTT offers.