6 November 2015- Soccer teams have been scoring much richer television and sponsorship deals. As a result, the 20 most valuable soccer teams in the world are worth an average of $1.16 billion, 11% more than last year and 84% higher than five years ago.

The performance would have been even more dramatic if not for the increase in the value of the U.S. dollar versus the Euro. In Euros, the value of the top 20 teams more than doubled during the past five years and are up 34% during the past year, to 1.08 billion. (Note: the composition of teams in the top 20 list was slightly different each year.)

Within the the top 20 I have culled what I refer to as the Super Six–Barcelona, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United,Real Madrid–the only teams that rank in the top 10 in four crucial areas: social media following, matchday revenue, broadcasting revenue and commercial revenue. These teams have created a large, global following and have figured out how to monetize it.

Real Madrid is the most valuable team, worth $3.26 billion, mainly due to $746 million in revenue, the most of any sports team in the world. This is the 12^th time we have ranked soccer teams and Real Madrid has been the most valuable  team the past three years. Over that span, Los Blancos have averaged annual operating income of $171 million, second among soccer teams only to Manchester United’s $173 million (the National Football League’s Dallas Cowboys averaged operating income of $241 million to lead all teams). Led by super striker Cristiano Ronaldo, who holds the all-time goal record in UEFA club competition, Real Madrid earned $154 million from Champions League play for the three-year period through 2014, the most of any team.

Barcelona, worth $3.16 billion, landed in the number two spot for the second straight year. Barcelona tied La Liga rival Real Madrid for the highest league television distribution in 2014, $190 million. Barcelona’s value also reflects the below market value of its Qatar Airways shirt and Nike kit deals, which currently yield a combined annual average of $80 million a season. The former is up after the 2015-16 season, the latter two years later. With superstars Lionel Messi and Neymar leading the way on the pitch, Barcelona should be able to double the value of its uniform deals. In addition, Barcelona are going to spend over $700 million renovating their stadium and grounds, which should significantly boost revenue.

Manchester United is the third most valuable team, worth $3.1 billion. No team on the planet has figured out how to make money from its brand like the Red Devils. In 2014,  Manchester United signed a record-shattering, 10-year dual global sponsorship and licensing deal with Adidas that begins with the 2015-16 season and guarantees the team at least an average of $110 million a year. Two years earlier, Manchester United signed a seven-year shirt deal with Chevrolet that started paying the team an average of $75 a year with the 2014-15 season. These are the most lucrative uniform deals in soccer.

Social Media plays a big role in the world we live in, and the same is true for soccer clubs/fans. The data presented reflects the number of Twitter “followers” and Facebook “likes” for each football club. The teams are ranked by a combination of the number of fans and followers across both sites. Worldwide, Barcelona is clearly the winner with just under 16 million likes and almost 850 thousand followers. {jcomments on}

Tweet

Tweetle                      Paylaş                        Paylaş