Revenues soar despite Covid hit
Premier League club revenues grew eight per cent to £4.9billion in 2020-21 season despite Covid almost wiping out matchday takings. writes TOM BARCLAY.
That is according to the latest annual football finance review from respected number-crunchers Deloitte.
Supporters were shut out from the majority of fixtures in the 20-21 campaign because of the pandemic.
It hit all clubs in the pocket with total matchday revenue falling to just £31million for Premier League sides.
Yet England’s top flight was still the only one of the ‘big five’ European leagues – including La Liga, Ligue Un, the Bundesliga and Serie A – to improve total operating profits in the year.
Cumulatively, that figure rose from £49m to £479m.
The increase is largely down to deferred cash from broadcasters, who paid out a £330m rebate which had been suppressed from the previous campaign.
Yet pre-tax losses remained high, even if they did go down from just shy of a billion pounds in 19-20 to £669m.
It was the third straight year Premier League clubs have reported pre-tax losses, with only Wolves, Sheffield United, Man City and Leeds reporting a pre-tax profit in 20-21.