By Paul Nicholson
November 11 – English Premier League clubs pay more than any other clubs in Europe on staff wages to retain their top league status – on average 40% higher than clubs in Italy’s Serie A and thumping five times more than clubs in Spain’s la Liga. The average wage bill of the English team one place above relegation between 2011/12 and 2013/14 seasons was €72.6 million, and it getting higher.
The analysis of how much football clubs spend in wages to avoid relegation was conducted by Football Benchmark, the research arm of KPMG’s Sports Practice.
They found that the spending on total staff costs by English clubs has only shown an upward trend in the three seasons 2011/12 to 2013/14. The team who finished one place above the relegation zone in 2013/14, West Bromwich Albion, spending €78.4 million, invested 13% more than Queens Park Rangers FC in 2011/12 (€69.2 million).
The researchers reckon that it almost certain that the gap between the Premier League and other European leagues will increase again in coming years as bigger budgets become available and the inevitable upward pressure on player costs in an competitive relegation marketplace comes into play.
Football Benchmark says this will be primarily fuelled by the new broadcasting deal worth approximately € 2.3 billion a year which kicks in from the start of the 2016/17 season – an increase of about 70% on the current deal.
Serie A is the second most expensive league with an average expenditure of €51.4 million, with France’s Ligue 1 and Spain’s La Liga being the least expensive leagues with staff costs in the range of €15 million – €25 million per club.
The researchers say that “the hypothesis that the higher the expenditure on wages the more likely it is that a club will avoid relegation is generally borne out from the data” in all four leagues examined.
Andrea Sartori, Head of KPMG’s Sports Practice commented: “It is very interesting to note that, in the time period between 2011/12 – 2013/14, the three Italian teams which avoided relegation in those years generated, on average, revenue of €52.6 million, suggesting a high level of financial instability, as their proceeds were almost entirely eroded by wages. However, data for 2013/14 season shows a positive movement with UC Sassuolo avoiding relegation after spending close to €10 million less in total staff costs than the two clubs one place above the drop in the previous two seasons in Italy.”
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