How much do Man Utd earn from TV, matchday and commercial revenue?

Paul Macdonald

• 19 Mar 2023 11:00 CDT
• 5 min read

The 2023 version of the Deloitte Money List has been released and it shows the various sources of revenue for the top 20 clubs in world football.

The list is dominated by the Premier League, with 11 of its 20 entrants coming from the division, while 16 of the top 30 are based in England.

HOW DO MANCHESTER UNITED EARN REVENUE?

Manchester United’s revenue generation comes from three distinct places; matchday revenue, broadcast revenue and commercial revenue. These three areas combine to create a club’s overall revenue for a season.

WHAT IS MATCHDAY REVENUE?

Matchday revenue consists of all revenue generated on a matchday. This includes ticket sales, food and merchandise, as well as hospitality offerings. Man Utd have the highest average attendance in the Premier League and so their matchday revenue is among the biggest in Europe.

Manchester United’s matchday revenue over the last eight years has remained reasonably consistent, with the notable exception being the coronavirus stopping fans from attending at the end of the 2019-20 season and into 2020-21.

The main differentiating factor is European football; Old Trafford has had no significant redevelopment in that time and so incremental ticket price increases are added to by additional Champions League fixtures. If the team is either not playing in the Champions League, or exits early, this can have a slight negative impact on matchday revenue generation.

WHAT IS COMMERCIAL REVENUE?

Commercial revenue is everything related to the overall sponsorship and brand activities of a football club. In the modern game this takes on many additional forms. Previously the only additional commercial revenue would be related to in-stadium advertising and perhaps a shirt sponsor arrangement.

But now various parts of real estate attached to the club can be monetised; everything from sleeve sponsors, to sponsors of the stadiums themselves, commercial managers are looking at any possible way to successfully generate revenue by building relationships with a whole host of brands.

The bigger the club, the bigger the fanbase, and therefore the more lucrative the deals available are, which is why the likes of Manchester United have successfully supercharged their commercial arm of their business in the last few years, becoming brand partners with everything from red wine to noodles.

United’s problem has been lack of Champions League football; were they competing at that level every season, they would have a broader commercial appeal and, without doubt, be able to eclipse their best-ever year, the €363m in 2015 (reported in 2016).

WHAT IS BROADCASTING REVENUE?

Broadcasting revenue relates to monies earned by the negotiation of showing a club’s matches domestically and internationally in each competition they are entered into.

Domestic TV deals are the most lucrative, with the country in which the league is played happy to pay inflated fees to fill their broadcast schedules with as many football matches as possible. Leagues are also free to negotiate with individual countries and regions to show their matches in that territory.

The size of the foreign deals are directly correlated to how popular the league is in that market. In that respect Manchester United, being from the Premier League, are fortunate to have a number of high value contracts in hundreds of world markets, with notable deals in the USA, Scandinavia and Asia.

The EPL’s marketability abroad has made clubs like Manchester United untold wealth, with the expansion of that potential likely to continue for years to come.

With the exception of the coronavirus season, when a payment was returned to broadcasters, The number has almost doubled in the space of the last decade. While the domestic TV deals seems to have plateaued, the foreign deals mean United can extend their earnings in this area further.

TOTAL REVENUE

Manchester United briefly topped the world for revenue generation, but the issue of on-pitch success has stunted their matchday and commercial revenue and allowed others, like Liverpool, to overtake them. But a fully-functioning Manchester United would likely still be the most valuable commodity in football.