The significance of Champions League football to a club’s commercial performance has been hammered home yet again, this time in Newcastle United’s financial results.
Newcastle saw its revenue rise substantially by 22% from £250.3m to £320.3m for the 2023/24 financial year, driven by a 90% and 32% increase in commercial and matchday revenue to £39.7m and £12.2m, respectively.
Media rights income is usually very significant for clubs, in most cases being the single largest revenue stream. In Newcastle’s case, however, media revenue actually dropped during the 2023/24 financial year to £154m, down 7% from £165.5m the year prior.
This figure excluded UEFA distributions though, with Champions League distributions amounting to £29.8m – a nice bonus for the club, which had not competed in the top-tier of European football since the early 2000s. .
Darren Eales, club CEO, said: “Returning to the Champions League for the first time in more than 20 years was hugely memorable for everyone connected with the club, and it has a clear upside financially as we continue to grow.”
A big growth generator for the club this year was its commercial revenue, which as noted above, rose by 90%. Its Champions League return, coupled with a much higher profile in recent years following its purchase by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), will have contributed significantly to this.
The past couple of years have seen Newcastle ink new deals and renewals with a range of partners including Sela, Noon, Fenwick, InPost, Adidas and BetMGM among others, which the club states are ‘all contributing to the rise in revenue’.
Recent developments have seen the club square off against other Premier League clubs regarding rules around commercial partnerships, however.
An arbitration meeting around the future of Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules in November saw Newcastle reportedly join Nottingham Forest, Manchester City and Aston Villa in opposing the rules.
The rules concern commercial deals between football clubs and companies which have the same owner. This could have ramifications for some of Newcastle’s deals. For example, e-commerce platform Noon is a joint venture between Newcastle owner PIF and Mohamed Alabbar, the founder of Emaar Properties.
At November’s meeting, the rules were approved by 16 of the league’s 20 clubs, but opposition has been revived by Manchester City, which is once again mounting a legal challenge.
The rules have not had any impact on Newcastle’s commercial relationships yet, and as such have had no effect on its commercial performance.
A notable standout figure from the 2023/24 results were a reversal of Newcastle’s loss from negative £66.1m to a profit of £1.2m, showing the impact of extensive commercial relationships and Champions League football on a club’s finances.
“We are committed to sustainable success and we have started 2025 in a strong position,” Eales concluded. “Our progress has been supported by diligent work on and off the pitch.
“Returning to the Champions League for the first time in more than 20 years was hugely memorable for everyone connected with the club, and it has clear upside financially as we continue to grow.
“We grew our revenues by 28% in the twelve months to 30 June 2024, with an increase in matchday revenue as well as significantly improved sponsorship deals and a sharper focus on everything we are doing across the club.
“We continue to make significant strides with our commercial deals and matchday offerings as we strengthen the foundations of the long-term project here at Newcastle United.”
