Revenues of €438.6m (£359.1m) cement Real Madrid's position at the top of the Money League for the sixth consecutive year.
Real remains the only club to surpass €400m in revenue, doing so for the second successive season. Whilst the 2009/10 season saw Real Madrid again outperformed on the pitch by Barcelona, who beat them to the league title for a second successive year, in revenue terms Real Madrid were over €40m (£33m) ahead of their Spanish rivals.
Broadcasting revenue of €158.7m (£129.9m) was consistent with the previous season (falling by only 1%), underpinned by the club’s broadcast rights contract with Mediapro. This contract, combined with certain others guarantees the club more than €1.1 billion up to 2013/14. Exiting the UEFA Champions League at the Round of 16 meant Real Madrid earned €26.8m (£21.9m), €22m (£18m) less than the tournament winners, Inter Milan.
La Liga clubs are currently discussing proposals for a more equal revenue distribution mechanism from domestic competition broadcast rights, although Real and Barca will seek to at least protect current revenue levels which provide a key advantage over their European peers. To put this into context, Real’s broadcasting revenue is higher than the total revenue of half of the Money League clubs.
Real reported an €11.6m (8%) increase in commercial revenue to €150.8m (£123.5m). As a result Real and Bayern Munich are the only two clubs that generated over €150m from this source. Real’s shirt front deal with Bwin runs until 2012/13 and reportedly generates between €15m (£12.3m) and €20m (£16.4m) per season. Adidas will continue as kit sponsor until 2011/12. Other partnerships, including with Audi, Coca-Cola and Spanish beer brand Mahou also contributed to commercial income in 2009/10, with Saudi Arabian telecoms company STC signing a three year deal starting from 2010/11.
Matchday revenues grew by a remarkable €27.7m (27%) to €129.1m (£105.7m). One driver of this growth was the hosting of the Champions League final in 2010 at the Santiago Bernabéu in front of a crowd of 75,000. Real Madrid also achieved matchday revenue increases at other matches owing to increased attendances, memberships and prices. Real has reconfigured certain areas within the Bernabéu in recent years in order to grow corporate hospitality revenues.
In the coming years, particularly as UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules take effect, Real Madrid’s revenue prowess should, in theory, translate into a competitive advantage on the pitch. In the short term, Los Merengues will need their star player signings of 2009 to justify their transfer value on the pitch both domestically and in the Champions League in order to maximise its revenues and keep ahead of great rivals Barcelona in the Money League.
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