The Business of Soccer

How Sponsorships, Jerseys, and TV Deals Generate Billions

 

Jiho Oh

Modern soccer is now an international business, which generates billions of dollars in sales each year. The top teams in the world have many millions of viewers worldwide, and all of that viewing generates revenue for the teams through three different sources of income: from selling their TV rights; from corporate sponsorships; and from selling merchandise. This means that these teams receive a lot more consistent income than if they had only matching day ticket sales. The teams can generate revenues from a variety of sources, which enables them to build better facilities; develop top players; and grow their brand around the world, while also maintaining their world's dominant position in Soccer.

https://www.businessinsider.com/protester-fifa-president-sepp-blatter-money-2015-7

Television broadcasting represents one of the most vital sources of income to professional soccer teams. Many networks across the world invest billions of dollars each year to acquire broadcast rights for the major leagues and tournaments. An example would be the English Premier League, who earns an estimated $10 billion from the sale of their broadcast rights for a three-year period. Major broadcasters such as Sky Sports and NBC pay extraordinary sums of money each year to air the matches in question. The funds derived from the sale of these broadcast rights are shared between the teams in a relatively balanced manner when compared to other leagues. On average, approximately 40-50% of the income received by top European soccer clubs is derived from television broadcasting. The predictable flow of income from the sale of broadcast rights has allowed clubs such as Manchester City and Liverpool to invest heavily in players, coaching staff, and their facilities. Television rights will continue to be the largest and most consistent source of revenue for professional soccer teams as worldwide viewership continues to expand because of advances in streaming technology and access to international markets.

https://www.sportsvideo.org/2025/05/30/uefa-champions-leage-final-2025-cbs-sports-to-produce-pitchside-studio-show-beckham-friends-altcast-in-munich/

Moreover, club revenue is supported by both broadcasting and corporate sponsorship with the latter generating between 30% and 40% of total club revenue. Major brands spend large amounts of money connecting their name with successful teams through jersey sponsorships, stadium and training facility signage, etc. Companies like Emirates, Nike and Adidas have multi-million dollar and sometimes billion-dollar sponsorship agreements with the top clubs in the world. For example: Manchester United has a sponsorship agreement with Adidas for over $1 billion over a ten-year period; therefore jersey sponsorship alone can generate tens of millions of dollars in annual revenues. There are mutual benefits to those partnerships. Corporations have global exposure to millions of fans and clubs are provided with consistent revenue streams to support player salaries and marketing initiatives. As clubs continue to perform well, the value of the sponsorship agreement usually increases which illustrates the correlation between performance and commercial revenue.

At last, merchandise sales represent roughly 10% - 20% of total revenues generated through other avenues such as broadcasting ads or sponsorship deals. Despite being significantly less than the other two categories mentioned, merchandise plays an important part in facilitating engagement with your fan base and creating a global identity. Popular clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich typically sell millions of jerseys annually to their standard quick fans; this is especially true for clubs that have newly signed superstars. In quite recent times, a good example would be when Cristiano Ronaldo was transferred to Juventus from Real Madrid the club reportedly sold about 500,000 jerseys within 24 hours of signing him, they've generated well over $25 million in revenue for the club. This is very significant to the clubs that they represent and the number of teams they support globally as fan loyalty plays a pivotal role here of how many jerseys will be sold to them moving forward. 

https://www.juvefc.com/financial-impact-of-cristiano-ronaldos-move-to-juventus-part-3/

In general, the overall success of the soccer business will depend upon a healthy balance between the rights associated with media broadcast, creating sponsorship contracts with major companies and selling their respective merchandise through various avenues. Although TV income represents the largest share of income, sponsorships and merchandise sales still play a major role in establishing the financial foundation to positively support continued long-term global growth through successful operations as a large global brand which supports continued growth amongst professional athletes.