A recent study carried out by Deloitte states that it is crucial for a club, in order to compete at the highest levels, to rely on an efficient and possibly private stadium. In this study, the top ten most profitable European stadiums are analyzed. Nine out of ten of these stadiums are privately owned.
Italian stadiums do not appear in the top ten stadium ranking, in which the Premier League dominates. Surprisingly enough, the Emirates Stadium in London, home of Arsenal fans for approximately ten years, is the most profitable football facility in Europe. Only in the past season, the Gunners earned €132 million by selling tickets, merchandising, and other stadium related commercial activities.
Real Madrid (€129.8 mln) and Barcelona (€116.9 mln) ranked respectively second and third. By being the most recent winners of the last three Champions League editions, Real Madrid and Barcelona are obviously considered among the best teams in the world. In both cases, the stadium capacity is higher compared to the league average. The Santiago Bernabeu (Madrid) and the Camp Nou (Barcelona) can fit from about 80,000 to 100,000 people per game (Barcelona is planning to increase the stadium capacity to 105,000 spectators).
Manchester United is the fourth and last club to reach more than 100 million euros in stadium revenue. The exact amount is close to €114 million. This is a surprising result considering the poor results that the Red Devils have been achieving in Europe lately. In fact, the last time that Manchester United reached the Champions League final was in 2010-2011. After that, the team didn’t pass the group stage twice or didn’t even manage to qualify for the European Cups at all.
Bayern Munich sits at the sixth place on this list thanks to the €89.8 million from the Allianz Arena. Seventh place for Paris Saint Germain (€78 mln), which is a unique case since the stadium is still property of the city of Paris.
Lastly, there are Liverpool (€75 mln), Manchester City (€57 mln), and Borussia Dortmund (€54.2 mln) closing the top ten rankings.
Below is a summary of the top ten most profitable European stadiums from Deloitte’s analysis:
- Arsenal (Emirates), €132 mln
- Real Madrid (Bernabeu), €129, 8 mln
- Barcelona (Camp Nou), €116.9 mln
- Manchester United (Old Trafford), €114 mln
- Chelsea (Stamford Bridge), €93.1 mln
- Bayern Munich (Allianz Arena), €89.8 mln
- PSG (Parc des Princes), €78 mln
- Liverpool (Anfield), €75 mln
- Manchester City (Etihad), €57 mln
- Borussia Dortmund (Signal Iduna Park), €54.2 mln
