England is becoming the NHL of football

It is by far the most attractive competition, able to buy almost any player in the world and pay the highest salaries in its sport. This is true of the NHL in ice hockey, whose business is many times greater than that of KHL or any other league. And football’s Premier League is heading toward a similar model of economic supremacy. This is confirmed by the latest UEFA study The European Club Footballing Landscape. According to the report, clubs from England’s top tier generated a total of €3.9 billion in revenue in the financial year ending 30 May 2015. That’s almost €2 billion more than German clubs earned. Last year, the difference in earnings between the Premier League and the Bundesliga was “only” €836 million.

“These numbers confirm England’s status as the country with the richest league in the world. What’s more, it’s getting richer faster than the German, Italian, or Spanish leagues,” said sports analyst and football agent Jozef Tokos for the Economic Daily.

What makes the Premier League economically exceptional compared to other European leagues? Everything. “Local clubs earn the most on average from ticket sales, commercial sponsorship income, and, above all, from television rights,” explained Tokos. Thanks to TV rights, according to the UEFA study, each club in the top English division earned on average €96 million — a total of €1.92 billion for the 2014/2015 season. By comparison, second-placed Italy’s Serie A clubs received €888 million from TV rights, while Spain’s La Liga clubs earned €741 million.

“These revenues most strongly impacted English so-called ‘second-tier’ clubs. Teams like Newcastle, Aston Villa, and West Ham saw their revenues grow by 35 to 50 percent year-on-year,” noted the sports analyst. Thanks to this, England has by far the largest representation in the Top 30 highest-earning clubs — twelve in total. And in the top ten, fully half of the clubs are from the Premier League. The richest club in the world remains Spain’s Real Madrid with €550 million in income. However, experts believe it’s only a matter of one or two years before an English club takes the lead, with Manchester United being the closest challenger.

Another interesting finding from the study is that the debt levels of European football clubs have dropped significantly. This is the first time the effects of the so-called Financial Fair Play system have been clearly visible. This system forces clubs to operate sustainably or face sanctions from UEFA. “Operating profit for clubs is the highest European football has ever generated,” the UEFA study states. While in 2011 clubs across the continent recorded a total loss of €382 million, in the recently completed financial year they achieved a profit of €805 million. “Debt levels of European clubs have dropped dramatically after the introduction of Financial Fair Play, and they have begun to behave much more responsibly than in the past,” said UEFA Executive Committee member František Laurinec for the Economic Daily. Simply put, European football is now in its best financial shape in the past twenty years. And the more money clubs earn, the more they can spend on players’ wages. Since 1996, salaries have risen by an astonishing 664 percent. One statistic shows that twenty years ago, clubs collectively spent €1.5 billion on player wages. Today, that figure is approaching €10 billion. “Professional football, whether in terms of club revenues or player salaries, is growing continuously and significantly. Top-level football is perhaps one of the fastest-growing sectors of the economy,” added Tokos.