Summary
6 June 2014
The English Premier League remains the most lucrative in world football, according to a new survey by consultants Deloitte. It's calculated that revenues at the 20 Premier League clubs will have grown by 28% over the last season, to 5.4 billion dollars. But high wage costs mean that most of that money will have been paid to the players.
Reporter:
Theo Leggett
The pitch at Wembley stadium hosts many big football matches
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Report
The wealth of the English Premier League was boosted this season by new domestic television deals, which are expected to generate nearly 6 billion dollars over three years. Commercial revenues, from sponsorship and merchandise sales have been growing rapidly, especially at Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool.
However, wage costs have also been increasing. In the 2012 to 2013 season, they accounted for 71 percent of overall income, while the money spent on player transfers grew by nearly a third, to 1.2 billion dollars.
As a result, although the Premier League is the richest in Europe, it is not the most profitable. That title goes to Germany's Bundesliga, which operates strict cost controls and limits the share of income which can be spent on players' wages.
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Vocabulary
- boosted
increased
- deals
financial agreements
- generate
make (here, money)
- revenues
income/money
- merchandise
goods and products
- accounted for
part of the total (of something)
- profitable
that results in money being made
- strict
strongly controlling the behaviour of something
