UK football clubs finance survey: Wages to turnover ratio usage 2019, by league

The wages to turnover ratio is a key performance indicator used by businesses to evaluate the efficiency of staff (players) as a generator of income as a function of the clubs revenue. The lower the ratio, the more revenue is being generated per employee. On the other hand, clubs with a high wage to sales ratios may consider selling players and or staff in order to improve their ratio. In the Premiere league, 58 percent of clubs used the ratio as a KPI.

Big teams are worth more

One thing that alarms a lot of football teams is the widening gap in wealth between larger and smaller clubs. With so much revenue coming through television rights, sponsorship, ticket sales and merchandising, clubs such as Manchester United have a brand value in the billions of U.S dollars worldwide. Surprisingly, most clubs in the United Kingdom (UK) still rate their clubs current financial position as either healthy or not bad.

Economic conditions effect on revenue

According to a survey conducted of English football league finance directors, the current economic situation has impacted several streams of revenue. In 2019, almost one third of English Premiere league teams said the current economic conditions had negatively affected merchandising sales.