February 19 – Germany’s Bundesliga has reported record 2018/19 combined revenue for the 18 clubs in its top tier, breaking the €4 billion barrier for the first time, a 5.4% increase on the previous season.
While the top division hit €4.02 billion in revenue, Bundesliga 2 hit a new high of €7882 million, a massive 28.5% increase on the previous season.
“In recent years, we have worked with our partners to develop German professional football into a highly successful economic sector,” said Bundelsiga CEO Christian Seifert. It is the 15th consecutive revenue increase for the league.
“The Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 in total enjoy solid economic stability. Additional future growth prospects will result in particular from digital innovations and on the international front,” he said.
Football is a big tax generator for Germany, paying €1.4 billion to the sate. The Bundesliga said it has “paid almost €10 billion in taxes and duties to the tax authorities and social security institutions in the past ten seasons.”
The two leagues are also a big employer with 56,081 people currently working at clubs – a 50% increase over the past 10 years.
The report found that of the 36 professional clubs, 28 closed the 2018-19 season with a net profit while equity (presumable defined as club value) reached record levels in both leagues, totalling €1.8 billion in the Bundesliga and €174 million in Bundesliga 2.
“Looking at the composition of the revenue generated, income from media rights marketing from all national and international competitions now accounts for around 36% of the total revenue of the 36 professional clubs. This was due to a significant extent to the contracts for the central marketing of the national media rights for the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2, which have been put in place up to and including the 2020-21 season and are reflected in the 2018-19 figures for the second time in the current rights period,” said Seifert.
While media income has become the biggest club revenue generator, ticket sales are not far behind with the league reporting the 42,738 tickets sold per match as the third-highest
average in the history of the German top flight. Bundesliga 2 saw an average of 18,980 ticket holders per match in 2018-19, the third-highest figure in the league’s history. The 36 professional clubs sold a combined total of 18,885,620 tickets, the second-highest figure achieved in one season.
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