A report from Calcio e Finanza highlights how Italian football is increasingly operating in the red with total losses of €1.4 billion and debts of €5.6 billion in 21/22. The aggregate “loss” produced by Italian professional football in the last 15 years amounted to €7.7 billion, and the loss recorded in 2021-2022 (almost €1.4 billion euros) represents the worst net result in the period reference analyzed by ReportCalcio, and reported by Calcio e Finanza:
The pandemic has caused significant socio-economic repercussions, starting with professional football; the overall loss of the Serie A, Serie B and Serie C championships in the three-year period COVID-19 (2019-2020, 2020-2021 and 2021-2022) was equal to almost €3.6 billion (on average around €3.3 million lost every day), with an average figure per season of €1.2 billion, compared to the €412 million loss recorded in 2018-2019. This is what emerges in the 13th edition of the Football Report, the annual study on the state of health of Italian football carried out by the FIGC Study Center together with PWC.
In the COVID-19 three-year period, in 82.6% of cases, professional clubs closed their financial statements with a loss (218 financial statements compared to the 264 analysed), while at the aggregate level, in the 15 years analyzed by ReportCalcio (from 2007-2008 to 2021 -2022), the aggregate “loss” produced by Italian professional football amounted to €7.7 billion, and the loss recorded in 2021-2022 (almost €1.4 billion) represents the worst net result in the period reference analyzed by ReportCalcio. Considering the financial situation, total debt grew from 4.8 billion pre-COVID-19 (2018-2019) to €5.6 billion in 2021-2022 (+17.2%), while in the first season analyzed in ReportCalcio ( 2007-2008) the figure stood at €2.4 billion.
As regards Serie A alone, in 2021-2022 Serie A recorded a production value of just under €3 billion, a decrease of 6.5% compared to 2020-2021, a season strongly influenced by higher revenues deriving from television rights and commercial activities, in consideration of the conclusion of the sports season prior to August 2020 (with the proceeds from the July-August period, pertaining to the 2019-2020 season, incorporated into the 2020-2021 economic results). Revenues from stadium admissions saw a recovery during 2021-2022 and stood at €218 million, an increase of 196.9 compared to 2020-2021, a season that was played behind closed doors or with restricted admissions for almost all the championship.
The increase in ticketing revenues is partially offset by the reduction in revenues related to television and radio rights, which in 2021-2022 reached €1.2 billion (-28.9%), mainly considering what was described at the beginning of section and the decrease recorded in the value of TV rights contracts for the period 2021-2024. The proceeds generated by capital gains and temporary transfers of players recorded an increase of €132.5 million in 2021-2022 (+32.4%), but are still far from the results generated before the pandemic, when such revenues amounted to €835 million .
The cost of production exceeds 3.8 billion (-7.7%); also in this case the trend is influenced by the comparison with the expenses incurred in the 2020-2021 football season, which also include the costs pertaining to the July-August 2020 two-month period (relating to the end of the previous 2019-2020 football season). Labor costs amount to €1.9 billion (-177 million compared to the previous season or -8.4%) and account for 50% of total production costs. Amortization and depreciation amounted to €970 million (-180 million compared to 2020-2021). The cost attributable to registered personnel (salaries + depreciation) accounts for 87% of the production value (compared to 91% in 2020-2021, 79% in 2019-2020 and 64% in 2018-2019, last season before COVID- 19).
In consideration of these dynamics, Serie A in 2021-2022 presents a negative net result exceeding one billion euros, with a slight improvement compared to the loss recorded in the 2020-2021 season, which amounted to 1.1 billion (+9.8%) . At the balance sheet level, there was once again an increase in debt, which reached a value of 4.9 billion (+1.1%) and in parallel there was a decrease in shareholders’ equity (-24.1%), in contrast with the last years (we went from 564 million in 2018-2019 to 603 in 2019-2020 and 622 in 2020-2021, up to 472 in 2021-2022), mainly due to particularly substantial operating losses generated by some clubs , which have eroded their level of capitalisation.
