Deloitte point way as to how Newcastle United can compete financially at the very top | OneFootball

The latest 2025 Deloitte Football Money League has now been published, showing the ‘richest’ clubs in the World.

That is, the football finance experts revealing their latest yearly overview of which clubs in the World generate the most money.

The report covers the 2023/24 season, with Deloitte as usual given access to the figures from (most) clubs, despite many clubs not having published their accounts as yet for that campaign.

Newcastle United released their 2022/23 season accounts on 11 January 2024 ahead of the 2024 Deloitte report, although on this occasion, no sign yet of NUFC releasing the 2023/24 accounts.

As ever, massive differences between those towards the very top end and the rest.

Indeed, it is kind of top ten of the Deloitte richest list and the rest.

Six Premier League clubs are in that top ten AND I don’t need to give you more than six guesses to name them!

Newcastle United are 15th in the Deloitte list and the seventh highest of the Premier League clubs, so a case for saying it is a ‘big seven’ now in England…

However reality is that Newcastle United are way off Chelsea in tenth place in the Deloitte list.

So how can that gap be closed AND then move in on the rest in the future?

For starters, here are the Deloitte top 30 (the top 20 in a table, then another one showing 21st to 30th), which includes 14 Premier League clubs.

In this new Deloitte 2025 table via BBC Sport, all figures are in millions of euros (€m). With the new position on left hand side (with last year’s Top 20 position in brackets) and then far right is where you will find the total revenue for each of the 20 top clubs, with the breakdown in between of Matchday, Broadcast and Commercial revenues:

Then these are the clubs in positions 21 to 30 in the new 2025 Deloitte Football Money League 2025:

In the new 2025 report, Deloitte commented on what they had found and gave guidance for the future.

Explaining how currently those at the top were generating so much revenue AND what those below them would have to do to join/replace them.

Here are a few of the key points from the Deloitte notes that we have picked out…

‘Top takeaways.

Records tumble: Money League clubs, the top 20 highest revenue-generating clubs in world football, reported a combined €11.2 billion in revenues for the 2023/24 season. This represents a 6% year-on-year increase, with record matchday, commercial, and broadcast earnings reported.

Matchday revenues surge: Driven by increased stadium capacities, higher ticket prices, and premium offerings, matchday revenue grew by 11%.

Commercial dominance: Commercial revenue remained the largest source of income for Money League clubs, rising by 10% to €4.9 billion.

Broadcast stability: In contrast, broadcast revenue plateaued at €4.3 billion as major leagues remained in existing domestic cycles.’

‘There is a clear distinction in revenue generation models between the two halves of the 2023/24 Money League. For clubs ranked in the top 10, commercial revenue is the dominant income source, accounting for 48% of club revenues. Contrastingly, broadcast is the key revenue driver for clubs ranked 11-20, representing 47% of club revenues. Both sets of clubs respectively generated 18% of their total revenue from matchday.

The trend for the most financially successful clubs to leverage the growth in commercial revenue is illustrated by the evolution of the split between the different revenue streams.’

‘Several clubs identified the impact of infrastructure investments as a key driver of revenue. For instance, Liverpool (€715m) and Olympique Lyonnais (€264m) benefited from such projects, with higher attendances and non-matchday events boosting matchday and commercial revenue respectively.’

‘Four of the top-10 Money League clubs identified retail and sponsorship as key revenue drivers in 2023/24. The ability to generate incremental commercial revenue in recent years through brand activation has enabled the likes of Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool to maintain their top-10 status, and AC Milan to retain 13th place despite missing out on lucrative UEFA Champions League broadcast income.’

‘This… further underscores the distinction in business models between clubs in the Money League and reiterates the role commercial revenue generating ability has played in enabling the likes of Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, and Chelsea to retain their position in the top-10 despite reduced broadcast income after missing out on Champions League participation.’

Future outlook

‘According to Deloitte analysis, over 300 sport stadium projects (renovations or new builds) are underway globally in 2025. While not all these projects relate to football clubs, it is reflective of an increased industry-wide focus towards creating stable and diversified revenue streams through stadia utilised beyond matchdays. In addition to increasing capacity to service excess demand, clubs are focused on building smarter entertainment destinations that deliver better experiences for players, artists, fans, and the wider community throughout the year. However, stadiums, much like the broader football club, are viewed as community assets and thus it is essential that they are built with the needs and welfare of the local community in mind.

Additionally, the ‘big five’ European leagues are entering a period of stability in domestic broadcast income, and only the Premier League and LaLiga are expected to deliver significant uplifts through international rights.’

My conclusions

My biggest takeaway from what Deloitte have said and what the figures show, is that Newcastle United have to go all out to build a brand new massive stadium, preferably at least 80,000 IMHO.

So that tens of thousands more Newcastle fans can watch their team AND just as importantly, a brand new state of the art huge new stadium that can generate far more cash.

With of course also hopefully success on the pitch at the same time, which with a new huge stadium, then could see massively more revenue coming in. Far bigger commercial deals, sponsorships and so on, far bigger matchday revenues, and so on.

Believing that Newcastle United can compete with the very richest in the long-term, by adding not many more seats to the current St James’ Park. I just can’t see that touching the sides of what is needed.