An Analysis of the Typical Profit Models for the European Professional Soccor Clubs

It is important to recognize that the professional team sports are not just games, but a business. In this paper, we analyze financial data related to the top European soccer clubs. The data were collected by the Chinese Academy of Science, School of Management. Based on the revenue sources, we reveal several typical profit models for these soccer clubs. These profit models include the high-broadcasting-right-fee profit model of Italy, the high-price-ticket sales profit model of Manchester United, the efficient-management profit model of Bayern Munich, and the merchandise-sale profit model of Real Madrid. We focus on the first two models and conclude that the broadcast revenue is the key to improve clubs' Drofit.