From the Stands to the Bank: The Financial Impact of Football Fans

Luton Town Fans Contributed 27% of Club Revenue in 2023-24

Matchday revenue brought in almost £784 million for Premier League clubs last season, but how do these earnings compare to the team’s total revenue across all sources? Here’s what we found.

1. Luton Town - Matchday revenue makes up 27.49% of total revenue

Fans of the Bedfordshire-based football team contributed more than £5 million in matchday revenue from supporting their club in the newly renovated Kenilworth Road stadium last season. This revenue equals more than 27% of Luton Town’s total income, the most significant fan contribution of all Premier League teams.

2. Manchester United - Matchday Revenue Makes up 22.90% of Total Revenue

Manchester United may have had a lacklustre 2023-24 season, finishing eighth, but their fans remained incredibly loyal.

Old Trafford’s average home attendance is the biggest of all Premier League clubs, and the Red Army contributed to almost 23% of Manchester United’s revenue last season.

3. Tottenham Hotspur - Matchday Revenue Makes up 21.40% of Total Revenue

While commercial income was Tottenham Hotspur's biggest revenue stream in the 2023-24 season, matchday revenue makes up a large proportion of this club's total earnings, equating to more than 21% of all income.

With more than £117 million coming from fans during home match days alone, this income was massively important for the club and demonstrated the importance of their billion-pound state-of-the-art stadium.

Only 3.84% of Bournemouth’s Total Revenue in 2023-24 Came From Fans

From the biggest fan contributors to the smallest, the following table reveals which Premier League clubs took in the smallest proportion of income from matchday revenue in the 2023-24 season. 

1. Bournemouth - Matchday Revenue Makes up 3.84% of Total Revenue

Despite having the lowest average home attendance in the league last season due to the small stadium size, Bournemouth regularly sold out tickets for matchdays. However, with almost £141 million worth of total revenue in the 2023-24 season, this football club has the lowest proportion of profits from fans on this list, equalling just 3.84%.

2. Brentford - Matchday Revenue Makes up 6.76% of Total Revenue

Almost 7% of all Brentford’s 2023-24 turnover came from fan contributions on matchday. Although this is the second lowest of all the Premier League teams last season, the £11.2 million spent by supporters at the Gtech Community Stadium is £835,000 more than their matchday earnings the previous season.

3. Crystal Palace - Matchday Revenue Makes up 6.88% of Total Revenue

Crystal Palace’s finances have gone from strength to strength over the last two seasons, and fan expenditure on game days has undoubtedly played its part.

While broadcasting is the most considerable revenue stream for The Eagles, every penny counts, and fans contributed more than £12 million to the club in matchday sales during the 2023-24 season.

Spurs Fans Top Premier League Matchday Spending at £101 Each

It is no secret that top-tier football ticket prices are excessive, but how much money are football fans spending on their team during home matchdays? Here’s what we found.

1. Tottenham Hotspur - £101 per fan

From Harry Kane’s departure to the appointment of a new head coach, Tottenham Hotspur had an extremely eventful 2023-24 season. Despite all the challenges and changes, Spurs’ fanbase turned up in the millions throughout the season, responsible for more than £117.5 million worth of the club’s total turnover that year. These supporter contributions equate to an average of £101 per fan per home game — the highest of any Premier League team last season.

2. Manchester United - £99 per fan

Manchester United had no trouble filling their 74,000-capacity stadium, Old Trafford, during the 2023-24 season. A combination of the most considerable stadium capacity in the Premier League and a devoted fanbase resulted in a matchday revenue of more than £137 million, or £99 per fan per home game.  

3. Chelsea - £98 per fan

Chelsea’s average attendance figures in the 2023-24 season may be lower than the other entries on this list, but their stadium was regularly packed out during home games last season. Attendance figures didn’t stop the Blues from spending a pretty penny to support their club, though, as they completed this top-three ranking with an expenditure of £98 per fan per home game.

Declan Rice’s Transfer Fee Was 38% More Than Arsenal Fans Spent During Matchdays Last Season

From Rasmus Højlund to Christopher Nkunku, transfers in the English Premier League cost clubs upwards of £2.4 billion in total during the 2023-24 season. Below is a breakdown of how the most expensive transfer fees compare to their club’s fan contributions on matchdays.

1. Declan Rice - 138.41%

After captaining West Ham to their first major European trophy in decades and being named the competition's Player of the Season in 2022/23, it is no surprise that Declan Rice was highly sought after last year. Arsenal bagged the English defensive midfielder in 2023 for an eye-watering £96.8 million. To put Rice's transfer fee into perspective, this expense is 138.41% more than £69.9 million spent by Arsenal fans on matchdays across the 2023-24 season. 

2. Moisés Caicedo - 130.71%

Moisés Caicedo appears next on this ranking, with the second-biggest difference between individual transfer fees and club matchday revenue. At just 23 years old, Caicedo has already made a name for himself in the English Premier League. His transfer to Chelsea was the club's biggest purchase during the 2023-24 season, and while Chelsea fans contributed to more than £73 million of their club’s profit, Caicedo’s transfer fee cost 130.71% more than all revenue earned by fans. 

3. Josko Gvardiol - 103.87%

Josko Gvardiol is the third Player on this list whose transfer fee exceeded the total matchday revenue brought in by fans of their 2023-24 club. Despite five clubs having a more considerable annual matchday revenue than Manchester City last season, supporters were responsible for more than £71 million of the club's profits. As substantial as this total is, it is still 103.87% less than the Croatian left-back's transfer fee.

Kevin De Bruyne’s Salary Equals 28.9% of Man City’s Fan Revenue in 2023-24

Football players receive a salary on top of their transfer fee, and top-tier players are paid millions of pounds every month. If Premier League players were paid from the contributions of their club’s fans alone, which players would cost teams the most significant amount? Here’s what we found.

1. Kevin De Bruyne - 28.92%

Kevin De Bruyne has been outstanding for City since he arrived in 2015,  where he is now considered a club legend. While his 2023-24 salary cost Manchester City almost £21 million, his annual pay could be covered by just under a third (28.92%) of the profits made from fans on matchdays across the season.

2. Erling Haaland - 27.12%

Whether or not you are a football fan, you have likely heard of Erling Haaland. Earlier this year, the Norwegian goal-scoring machine bagged his 100th goal for Manchester City despite only being at the club since 2022. If pay were measured in goals, he would do more than enough to earn his £19.5 million annual salary, which was around 27% of the club’s total matchday revenue from fans in the 2023-24 season.

3. Raheem Sterling - 22.94%

While he is on loan to Arsenal as of 2024-25, Raheem Sterling spent his 2023-24 season playing for Chelsea, earning a jaw-dropping £16.9 million. While this salary is ludicrous, the English winger’s annual wage for the Blues makes up less than a quarter (22.94%) of money spent by fans on matchdays.

Bethany England’s Transfer Fee Exceeded Spurs’ 2022-23 Matchday Revenue

At just shy of £670,000, Racheal Kundananji recently became the most expensive signing in female football history. This highlights the difference in expenses for the men's and women's games, but how proportionate are women's transfer fees to their fan contributions on matchdays? Here's what we found.

1. Bethany England - 100.4%

After becoming a legend at Chelsea during her seven-year stay, it would take a special offer to tempt a move from Bethany England. During the 2022-23 season, the English striker accepted a £250,000 transfer to Tottenham Hotspur Women, where she has already significantly impacted the club. Even though fan contributions on matchdays made up £249,000 of the club’s profits in the 2022-23 season, this isn’t enough to cover England’s transfer fee.

2. Jill Roord - 40.16%

Manchester City is known for its expensive transfers, and the women’s team is no exception. In 2023, Jill Roord signed for the Citizens on a three-year deal for more than £300,000. Fan contributions could easily cover the Dutch midfielder’s signing fee, as her fee equates to over two-fifths (40.16%) of Manchester City Women’s total matchday revenue in the 2022-23 season.

3. Sofie Svava - 29.78%

At just 24 years of age, Sofie Svava has already made her mark on the women’s game, winning on both an individual and team level. In January 2022, Svava moved from VfL Wolfsburg to Real Madrid Femenino for £173,000. This incredible player’s transfer fee is equivalent to just under 30% of all the profit brought in by Real Madrid Femenino’s fans that year, highlighting the importance of fan contributions to the women’s game. 

Methodology

We used Companies House to find each 2023-24 English Premier League club's matchday revenue and total revenue based on their most recent statement, filtered by 'accounts.' For clubs that did not provide this, we used the 'gate receipt' total.

We used Transfermarkt to find each club's average home attendance, average transfer expenditure, and top transfers during the 2023-24 season. The transfer expenditures were converted from EUR to GBP using Xe - conversion rates are accurate as of 19/11/2024. We multiplied each team’s average home attendance by 19 to calculate the average number of home fans across the 2023-24 season.

We used Capology to calculate each club’s total annual payroll and the gross annual pay of the ten highest-paid players during the 2023-24 season.

We divided each club’s matchday revenue by the total revenue to calculate the matchday revenue as a percentage of total revenue for each team in the 2023-24 season.

We divided the transfer fee by the matchday revenue of their 2023-24 club before multiplying this by 100 to find the percentage of annual matchday revenue needed to cover the player's transfer fee. We repeated this calculation to find the percentage of annual matchday revenue needed to cover the player's annual pay.

We used Deloitte to find the matchday revenue of the top 15 women’s clubs as of 2022-23. These figures were converted from EUR to GBP using Xe - conversion rates are accurate as of 19/11/2024.

We used Wikipedia to find the top female transfers to clubs on our seeding list between 2022 and 23 and their respective transfer fees. We divided the transfer fee by the annual matchday revenue before multiplying this by 100 to find the percentage of annual matchday revenue needed to cover the player's transfer fee.