UEFA’s European Club Footballing Landscape report lays bare Serie A’s issues with stadiums, with a 3 per cent drop in gate receipts.
Most clubs in Italy don’t own their own stadiums, and many haven’t been significantly upgraded since the country hosted the 1990 World Cup.
Today European football’s governing body has released its annual benchmarking document, and the Italian top flight is lagging far behind in terms of gate receipts.
UEFA’s European Club Footballing Landscape report lays bare Serie A’s issues with stadiums, with a 3 per cent drop in gate receipts.
Most clubs in Italy don’t own their own stadiums, and many haven’t been significantly upgraded since the country hosted the 1990 World Cup.
Today European football’s governing body has released its annual benchmarking document, and the Italian top flight is lagging far behind in terms of gate receipts.
While Serie A sits fourth overall, clubs made on average just €9.9m from stadium revenue in the 2016-17 season.
Spanish clubs brought in €22.7m, Bundesliga sides €27.1m and the average Premier League income from gate receipts was €39m – over four times that of Serie A.
Roma have been granted permission to build a new stadium in the Tor di Valle area of the city, while Fiorentina and both Milan clubs are also looking to upgrade their existing grounds or build a new one.
UEFA’s figures make clear the reason for that, with Juventus 11th overall in terms of gate receipts across Europe.
The Bianconeri are one of the few Italian sides who do own their own stadium, and they made an average of €44.50 per spectator per match.
While that’s a long way short of Arsenal, whose €97.80 is more than any other club, and three times less than fourth-place Barcelona, neither of the Milan sides are even in the top 30, despite both having higher average attendances than Juve last season.
Roma are 15th in average yield with €40.70 per spectator – 17th overall – behind FC Basel and ahead of Fenerbahce.
Italy in fact comes sixth in Europe in terms of average yield per spectator, with €22.10 putting Serie A just ahead of the Scottish Premiership in seventh on €21.70.
In England the average yield per attendee was over €50, but Spain, Germany, Switzerland and Turkey all outstrip Italy.
Gate receipts for Italian top flight clubs represented only 10 per cent of revenue, with La Liga and the Bundesliga both at 18 per cent and the Premier League at 16 per cent, largely due to their massive television rights deals.
Of the top 20 leagues in terms of gate receipts, only Russian and Danish clubs make a lower percentage of their revenue from ticket sales.
Serie A is the only league among the top 10 for gate receipts which has seen negative underlying growth, with a 3 per cent fall.
Turkey grew by a massive 20 per cent, but England and Spain managed 7 and 8 per cent respectively.
Italy is also the worst performing of the top 20 leagues in terms of sponsorship and commercial revenue, despite growth of 10 per cent.
While Serie A sits sixth in terms of club average with €21.2m, only 21 per cent of revenue on average comes from sponsorship and commercial revenue, lower than any other league in the top 20.
images via UEFA's European Club Footballing Landscape report