Broadcasters in top five European leagues to make US$11 billion from football

European broadcasters are set to make more than US$10 billion from football in the coming 2021/22 season.

According to new figures from Digital TV Research, broadcaster revenue for live football matches to domestic leagues and the UEFA Champions League will reach US$10.5 billion in the 2021/22 season across the ‘big five’ European leagues. 

The top five league’s include the English Premier League, Spain’s LaLiga, Italy’s Serie A, the German Bundeslga and France’s Ligue 1. Broadcasters across the five countries will pay US$8.3 billion for the rights, indicating that they are set for a healthy profit.

The UK tops the revenue charts, with US$3.6 billion expected from broadcasting live matches, while Spain will be some way behind at US$2.3 billion. Germany, the report says, will be similar to Spain despite having the largest population of the five countries. 

Italy will be in fourth with total revenues of over US$1.5 billion, while France will be a distant fifth with broadcasters’ revenues not even reaching US$1 billion.

Broadcasters are set to see an increase to their revenues from the 2019/20 season when the pandemic hit hardest. During this time, broadcaster revenue from football across the five countries fell by US$6.1 billion as payments were deferred or reduced by rights holders.