Leeds’ commercial power is comparable to few outside the Premier League’s ‘Big Six’ — The Athletic 19/6/24
By Nancy Froston
Had the Premier League table for the 2022-23 season been
arranged based on commercial income, Leeds United would have been a lot
happier.
They could have qualified for Europe. Only the so-called
‘Big Six’ outperformed them on shirt sales, sponsorship revenue and other
partnerships. Let the tongue-in-cheek chanting of, ‘Biggest commercial revenue
outside the top six, you’ll never sing that’ start now.
But while the concept of league tables based on anything but
the football itself can feel a bit inane, revenue matters more and more in
modern football. This is a money game and clubs who bring in higher revenue can
spend more on players. More often than not, they also attract more investment.
Leeds, to their credit, are very good at the commercial side
of things. They have been for some time.
It is part of what attracted 49ers Enterprises to take
ownership of the club. It appealed to Red Bull in its recent investment, too.
Being associated with Leeds is big business — it is why Adidas signed a
five-year deal to be the club’s kit supplier in 2020 worth a reported
£10million ($12.7m at today’s rates) a season. That was a record-breaking deal
for Leeds. Both parties have reaped the rewards of the deal, with Leeds’ kit
revenue for the 2022-23 season ranking the 16th-highest in Europe, according to
a UEFA club finance report.
The €34million (£28.8m; $36.5m) made from kit and
merchandising sales put Leeds level with Scottish giants Celtic, ahead of
Fenerbahce (€31m) of Turkey and Inter from Serie A (€26m). The gap to the
world’s biggest clubs is vast. Barcelona lead with €179m and Liverpool are the
top English club at €132m. But Leeds are consistently the biggest second-tier
club in Europe.
All the things that make Leeds attractive as a football
entity for prospective signings — big fanbase, historic club, Premier League
ambition — make them a commercial success. They benefit each other
symbiotically, as football finance expert Kieran Maguire explains.
“If you go back to the last season Leeds played in the
Championship before parachute payments (2019-20), their commercial income was
around 60 per cent of the total revenue,” he says. “That is unheard of among
Championship clubs.
“They were bringing in £30million a season from commercial
deals, which is Premier League standard. It’s an international brand, a club
with history and heritage. That sells. It’s got an expat community in an awful
lot of countries, which helps to increase the profile and all of these things
are positive. Leeds is a one-club city and there aren’t many like that — maybe
Newcastle is most similar. But there aren’t many cities the size of Leeds with
only one club — Nottingham, Manchester, Liverpool and so on have multiple
clubs.
“You’ve got a very committed fanbase too. So all of that is
attractive to potential sponsors. You’ve got a potential ABC1 audience (a term
used in market research to refer to middle-class consumers), a local fanbase,
an international fanbase, the history and the heritage and the numbers are
there for kit manufacturers.
“Why did Adidas want that deal? They know when the kit comes
out, it will immediately sell thousands of shirts. There aren’t many clubs
that, the day the shirt comes out, you get people hanging around outside the
megastore. In turn, the revenue generates the ability to pay wages and be
involved in the transfer market. And that’s why Leeds are the biggest fish in
the Championship pond and no other club delivers to the extent that Leeds will
do this season.”
Leeds’ deal with Adidas is due to expire in 2025. Talks with
suppliers for the following seasons are being explored, as is to be expected
for a club of their size. In line with a trend towards retro themes at other
big clubs in the Adidas stable, The Athletic has been told that potential
designs for the new 2024-25 Leeds kits have included earlier iterations of the
club’s crest like the famous ‘smiley’ badge. Arsenal and Manchester United’s
kits, both made by Adidas, have been given similar treatment in recent seasons
and have been popular with fans.
When asked about forthcoming designs and the partnership
with Leeds, Adidas said: “We are proud of our ongoing partnership with Leeds
United Football Club. The passionate fan base and club history gives us rich
territory when we create for the players and supporters. Whilst we won’t be
releasing details of the new kits for next season yet, we will be unveiling
some exciting designs in the coming weeks. We look forward to continuing our
work together.”
Leeds did not comment when asked about kit designs for the
forthcoming season.
As they target promotion again this season, they will do so
with Red Bull sponsoring the front of their shirts. This represents another key
partnership with a global brand. It is only befitting of Leeds’ commercial
income and top-flight ambition.
But Red Bull’s involvement has clarified that the 49ers are
not willing to explore another common avenue for commercial profits — a naming
deal for Elland Road. Speaking to The Athletic following news of Red Bull’s
investment in Leeds, chairman Paraag Marathe said, “Anything with Elland Road
is just not on my radar whatsoever. It’s not contemplated and it’s never been a
part of this discussion. I recognise, and I’ve been in sports too long not to
know, that these stadiums are hallowed grounds.”
At present, that applies to Red Bull or any other brand — Elland Road’s name remains sacrosanct.
“Red Bull is a global brand and that’s a vote of confidence
in Leeds,” says Maguire. “They would not have partnered with a club that they
believe will be in the second tier on a long-term basis. So they will probably
have seen last season as a small bump in the road. Leeds have an extra bit of
kudos because they have won the top division, they have got to a European Cup
final. They were the biggest club in the country and when I was at school,
everyone wanted to be a Leeds fan because they were the glamour club. So they
still have a lot of legacy interest and that’s something that they can tap
into.
“With the Premier League, you have the fact that you are
being broadcast to 189 countries. So you’ve got the eyeballs for sponsors
there. Their commercial income last time they were in the Championship was
£30million — in the Premier League, it was £48m. So there is a 60 per cent step
up. It was bigger than Aston Villa, bigger than Newcastle, bigger than West
Ham, even though all those clubs have stadiums bigger in capacity than Leeds.
“If you go back to the 2019-20 season, when they were
previously in the Championship, they had more commercial income than eight
clubs in the Premier League. That pegs them to a pretty impressive position.
Their commercial income was by far the biggest in the Championship that
season.”
Even with the new investment from Red Bull, winning
promotion remains as crucial as ever for Leeds. Deloitte’s annual Football
Money Report for 2024 placed Leeds 27th in global football for total revenue
(accounting for commercial, matchday and broadcast revenue), with
€207.8million. That is ahead of Crystal Palace (€206.5m), Lyon (€199.1m) and
Everton (€198m).
The potential for more is clear. Premier League status and,
by extension, its global audience provide an uplift to all areas of the club.
Leeds’ commercial success in recent years has shown that as a top-flight club,
they could thrive and challenge the elite. The first step is getting there.