- La Liga says it is the only of Europe’s top five leagues to achieve positive net result for 2019/20
- Spanish soccer body expects income to fall to €3.545bn for 2020/21 campaign, meaning clubs will have missed out on roughly €2bn over last two seasons
Spanish soccer’s La Liga has revealed that it generated record total income during the 2019/20 season but has warned that the majority of the impact of the pandemic will be reflected in its financial results for the 2020/21 campaign.
Despite the effects of Covid-19, La Liga saw revenue for the 2019/20 season grow to €5.045 billion (US$5.996 billion), which represented an increase of 3.6 per cent compared to the previous year, when it generated €4.479 billion (US$5.323 billion).
According to professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), that figure could have been as high as €5.321 billion (US$6.324 billion) without the impact of Covid-19, which saw the 2019/20 La Liga season completed behind closed doors.
Broadcast income accounted for 35 per cent of the overall total as La Liga generated €1.770 billion (US$2.103 billion) from its media rights. Unsurprisingly, matchday revenue was down on the previous season to €796 million (US$946.1 million), while commercial income was up slightly to €987 million (US$1.173 billion).
In light of its latest financial results, La Liga said that the average cumulative long-term growth in each of the last five seasons has been more than 12 per cent.
In addition, it noted that, including transfer income, La Liga was the only major European soccer competition to turn a profit during the 2019/20 season, achieving a net result of €77 million (US$91.5 million).
However, looking ahead to its financial results for the 2020/21 season, PwC has estimated that La Liga’s total income will fall to €3.545 billion (US$4.213 billion), largely owing to a projected drop in matchday revenue to €271 million (US$322.1 million).
Without Covid-19, PwC estimates that La Liga would have generated €5.266 billion (US$6.259 billion) during the 2020/21 campaign, meaning its clubs will have missed out on just under €2 billion (US$2.4 billion) across the two seasons affected by the global health crisis.
Despite that, La Liga said its clubs are well positioned to cope with the financial impact of the pandemic.
A statement accompanying the 2019/20 financial results read: ‘Thanks to the economic control that La Liga clubs and SADs self-imposed and their efforts in managing this, the competition is well prepared for the impact of Covid in the 20/21 season, where we can estimate that despite the economic year not yet being closed, results will be lower than expected, but thanks to the economic strength of the clubs they will be able to manage this difficult season.’
