Premier League matches attracted around 3.16 billion viewers globally during the 2019-2020 season, a figure almost double the 1.625 billion viewers of the UEFA Champions League. The World Cup in Russia was watched by 3.572 billion viewers worldwide, with 655.7 million Chinese viewers watching the tournament.
Since the 1998-1999 season, Premier League revenues have risen by 840% and the number of jobs created directly by clubs has increased by 650% from around 11,000 to 87,000, bringing the total number of jobs created across the league to 94,000.
With 3.16 billion viewers worldwide, the Premier League has twice as many viewers as the Champions League
Overseas broadcasting revenue steadily exceeds that of Western Italy, Germany and France combined
The performance of the English Premier League is comparable to "Versailles" in terms of global audience and overseas rights revenue. Nielsen data show that the Premier League global cumulative audience of up to 3.16 billion, almost twice as many as the Champions League, far more than the other four major leagues (Bundesliga 1.6 billion, La Liga 1.559 billion, Serie A 1.202 billion, Ligue 1 392 million).
Cumulative viewership of major European soccer matches
In terms of overseas rights sales, the English Premier League is even farther ahead. Compared with the other four major leagues, the Premier League's overseas broadcasting revenue has maintained its advantage for a long time. In the 19/20 season, the Premier League earned £1.4 billion in overseas broadcasting revenue, compared to £1.2 billion for the other four major leagues combined.
Notably, the Premier League completed the sale of its new cycle of Premier League rights within the past few months. In the U.S. market, the Premier League agreed to a six-year, $2.7 billion rights deal with NBC, a nearly 20-fold increase over the previous cycle. In addition, the Premier League reached an agreement with Disney Media for a new cycle of rights in 10 South American countries worth £250 million over three years, a 35% increase on the previous cycle.
In the aftermath of the epidemic, the value of the rights of the other four major leagues fluctuated in various markets, changing the previous trend of continuous increase. For example, the local rights of the new cycle of La Liga are only basically the same as the previous cycle, and the rights of Serie A in the Middle East and North Africa have been in the state of abortion. Working soccer audio-visual products also show the phenomenon of head to head, and the Matthew effect may allow the Premier League to further distance itself from other leagues in terms of copyright value in the future.
Another benefit of the high revenue from rights is that the Premier League has the lowest 'wealth gap' between the top and bottom clubs of any of the big five leagues. This is reflected in the game, which is to narrow the gap between the strength of the teams, and make the game more suspenseful.
However, the Premier League also suffered during the outbreak, with a total loss of £1.3 billion in broadcast and matchday revenues and a cumulative drop of 18 million viewers between the 19/20 and 20/21 seasons.
The Premier League has always spent a portion of its broadcast revenue on supporting the lower leagues and grassroots soccer. in the 19/20 season, this share was around 15%. Since 2012, £455 million has been used to support the national leagues at the bottom of the soccer pyramid.
However, a considerable portion of the compensation for the Championship is in the form of parachute compensation for clubs relegated from the Premier League to the Championship, and the universality of the compensation still needs to be improved. According to the recently released report of the UK Football Governance Fans' Review, the Premier League may further increase the "solidarity tax" in the future, which will be used for the construction of the lower tier of soccer and the lower tier of the league.
Despite the imperfections of England's league system, the country's fans and insiders continue to seek changes that will be more beneficial in the long run, and English professional soccer remains highly relevant to all other soccer leagues across the globe, including the big four.
The report also mentions that the largest number of national team members from each participating country in Euro 2020 are from the Premier League at 117, while the Championship contributes a total of 34 internationals, which is unique among the sub-divisions of the whole of Europe. The Championship's figure even exceeds the number of internationals in the entire French league system and is close to the number of internationals in the entire Spanish league system. The Championship is still the leading league in the European sub-division.
In addition, despite no mandatory rules being in place, the Premier League's U23s still saw a 50% increase in playing time in 19/20 compared to the average of the previous three seasons. The Premier League has invested a cumulative total of £1.6 billion in over 90 youth academies between the 12/13 and 20/21 seasons, and is finally reaping the fruits.
The Premier League generates around £3.6 billion in tax revenue each year
Pulling jobs, driving travel, providing public service
Figures show that the Premier League generated £7.6 billion in the 19/20 season, an 840% increase in economic volume since the 98/99 season.
Meanwhile, 94,000 jobs were created in the Premier League, with around 87,000 jobs created directly by clubs by the 19/20 season, a cumulative increase of around 650%.
In the 19/20 season, the Premier League generated around £3.6 billion in tax revenue, of which £1.4 billion came from player salary tax. The Premier League's tax contribution has grown year on year since the 98/99 season, exceeding £3.5 billion in the 19/20 season, a 750% uplift in 21 years, or 390% in real terms even when inflation is taken into account.
Of the overall Premier League revenue for the 19/20 season, £1.5bn came from local rights and league sponsorship income, £1.4bn from overseas rights income, £600m from matchday revenue and £1.6bn from other club income.
In addition to the social value created by the Premier League itself, the Premier League has also had a huge diversion effect on the local tourism industry in England/Wales. According to the VisitBritain website, the value of inbound soccer tourism by foreign visitors in 2011 was 880 million euros, and the number of visitors was 808,000 people. And by 2019, the total value of inbound tourism for overseas visitors driven by the Premier League reached 1.7 billion euros, with 1.5 million inbound tourists and a per capita spending of 1,075 euros, which is 31% higher than the international average. Among them, more than 2/3 of the overseas tourists chose to enter the UK for tourism in October-March, the most intense months of the Premier League matches, which side by side shows the remarkable effect of sports events on the tourism industry.
In addition, the Premier League's drive to attract foreign capital for investment purposes is equally obvious. Abramovich, Mansour, Saudi Arabia sovereign fund and other investors to enter, in addition to investing in the team to enhance the competitiveness of the team also played a role in promoting the team's surrounding infrastructure.
The Premier League has played an equally important role in community infrastructure, investing a cumulative £384 million into public funds and participating in the construction of 996 artificial turf pitches and 9,459 plastic turf pitches.
Figures show that during the New Crown epidemic, the Premier League cumulatively donated about £35 million to the UK health authorities, communities and social groups, and provided 1.5 million meals. In the fight against the epidemic, the social welfare role of the sports sector was played.
