2024年足球投资调查

Football Investment Survey Sports Finance Insights 2024 Football Investment Survey Welcome to the Sports Finance Insights 2024.For twodecades, we have contributed to the football industry bypublishing the Football Finance Directors Survey, layering ourown financial insights over the data and opinions of financialleaders from clubs across the domestic professional footballleagues. Recognising that the way we all consume financialinformation and thought leadership has changed, wewill nowfocus on shorter, more frequent, andmore topicalinsightsthroughout the year. With no fixed agenda,our ‘annualcampaign’ will give us the freedom to comment onlive and emerging issues across football andthe wider Professional Sports Sector. Wehope you enjoy our first Sports FinanceInsight, kicking off with the FootballInvestment Survey. Contents A word from Ian Clayden3Key metrics and headlines4Financial health of clubs5What are clubs’ investment priorities?9How are clubs affording this increased level of spending?15The owners’ dilemma: funding losses and shifting strategies17How does all this fit in with Financial Fair Play?20And what about expanded governance requirements?21 A word fromIan Clayden,Partner, Head of Professional Sports, BDO In doing so, for the first time, we have taken a closerlook at a “wages-to-points” league table where wesee Brentford, Brighton and Bournemouth toppingthe 2023 table. We look forward to having this asarolling data set for future reference as we observehow easy, or otherwise, it is to transition betweenmodels following promotion or relegation, and howwell understood these models are by those makinginvestment decisions. Keeping with the theme of headline grabbing,notonly have we concluded that the mid-tier clubsare setting the standard for return on investment inplayer wages, but we resolutely conclude that EPLplayers are not, I repeat, NOT, over-paid. Atleastnot based on club revenue metrics! The same isnot said of FLC players. So, a single player breakingthe £1ma week wage threshold, appears not onlyinevitable, butcommercial (for the few clubs thatcan afford it). competition from the 2024/25 season, taking controlfrom the FA, and the UK government has endorsedthe recommendations of the independent review intothe domestic women’s game led by Karen Carney. 1.Promotion up the football pyramid(ideally to the EPL) then exit.The ‘hold’for subsequent ‘commercial enhancement’strategy is too long term given: i.the already expended investment periodtoachieve promotion; andii.the need to leave something on the tablefor prospective buyers (the classic privateequity (PE) model). Amidst all of this, we take our annual deep dive intothe opportunities and challenges that clubs withindifferent leagues face, and take a look at how theiroperating models might be evolving to fit the everchanging financial and regulatory landscape. The quest to remain competitive also plays a keyrole in decisions related to infrastructure investment.Inorder not to divert funds away from on-the-pitchactivities, infrastructure spend needs to come fromnew or existing investors (shareholders) rather thanfrom operating cash flows. In light of record-breaking revenues, we have hadthe opportunity to question when and if clubs willtransition from principally loss-making ventures toprofit making businesses. In fact, with sustainabilitybeing such an overpowering mantra, we questionwhether actual accounting profits are even relevant.We also take some time to share our insights onwhat now appears to be three distinct operatingmodels throughout the footballhierarchy: We would not expect the PE investor to fallforthetemptations that often trap the profilebuilding investor. Player spend comes in two parts of course: wagesand transfers. And whilst wages in the EPL areproportionate to club revenues, transfer fees are nowset apart. The transfer market has become distortedby the levels of transfer fees being paid by EPL clubs.Whilst much of this is a is zero-sum-game withinthe EPL itself, where players are selected from lowerleagues this creates a very welcome redistributionof wealth, the correction ofwhich would actually bedamaging to English Football League (EFL) clubs. 2.Commercial enhancement of establishedEPL clubs then exit.But the question hereis who the investor sells to once commercialoptimisation is achieved. Investors may need toseek strategic minority investments or sell backto the super rich profile builder. It is no surprise that recent headlines aroundmen’s football have been about financial matters!Manchester United announced record revenues,only to be swiftly outdone by Manchester City;Everton and Nottingham Forest were docked pointsfor breaches of the Premier League’s Profitability& Sustainability (P&S) Rules, and all the whilethe English Premier League (EPL) broke its ownUKrecord by negotiating a new domestic TV rightsdeal, with Sky and TNT Sports paying a combined£6.7bn for 2025-28: anincrease on the current£4.