Bundesliga sets revenue, crowd record

BERLIN - Reuters

The Bundesliga’s 18 clubs set a seventh straight revenue record, generating almost 2 billion euros in the 2010/11 season compared to 1.77 billion the previous season, the German football league (DFL) said yesterday.

All 36 clubs of the top two divisions had revenues that totalled 2.23 billion euros, the DFL said during a presentation in Frankfurt.

The past four years alone, revenues have grown by 18.9 percent for both leagues, with the top flight recording growth of 24 percent.

“In the current season we see breaking the two billion euro mark,” said DFL CEO Christian Seifert. “The Bundesliga is already the second league in terms of revenues behind the Premier League.”

The top division also set a new average attendance record per game with 42,101 spectators.
“For the first time, more than 42,000 spectators on average attended the matches, causing the Bundesliga to retain its spot as the recordholder for the highest spectator average worldwide,” the DFL said.

“The measures for an improved cost control approved by the clubs in August 2010 have borne fruit. With that, professional football continues to have a strong outlook of remaining a success story, also because the Bundesliga is as popular as never before with fans, sponsors and media partners,” said Seifert.