Louis-Marie Valin is an expert sports consultant. With agencies or advertisers, he works on communication, sponsorship, events or entrepreneurship issues. He is also a member of the Sport Business Observatory and founder of the site sport-vox.com.
Like every year for the past eight years, Andrea Sartori, ex-KPMG and founder of the Ace Advisory firm, has made public his highly anticipated Football Benchmark which examines the situation of the continent’s biggest football clubs. Among the 16 clubs studied in detail, it is the situation of the French champion which caught our attention. A club which, if one still doubted it, has definitely taken its place among the giants of its sport.
The first significant figure in this report concerning PSG is this symbolic bar of 800 million euros in revenues exceeded for the first time. €801.7 million, to be precise, which represents an increase of 20% compared to 2023 and which places the club in third position of the clubs having generated the most income in 2023, only ahead of Real Madrid and Manchester City .
A flattering position which is explained in particular by excellent commercial revenues (€399.4 million) which are ahead of revenues linked to TV rights (€249.2 million) and ticketing revenues (€153.1 million) and validate the excellent commercial policy led in particular by Jean-Claude Blanc before his departure for INEOS. Good health which also demonstrates that “the 2022-23 season witnessed substantial revenue growth for all champions, indicating positive signs of full growth and a return to normal after the pandemic », Specifies Andrea Sartori, Founder and CEO of Football Benchmark.
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A significant positive trend post-COVID which should not, however, mask a still worrying economic reality: PSG continues to lose money. Thanks to the “MNM” (Mbappé, Neymar, Messi), its income has grown ever more but because of this same “MNM”, the club’s payroll reached the peak of €633.7 million. Certainly, the effect of the French social/fiscal model can partly explain this figure, however, the club could not sustainably assume a talent cost of 79% of its turnover. For the last financial year, the Ile-de-France club still acts as a dunce’s cap on this index with losses estimated at €109.8 million, placing it in penultimate place in the ranking.
A poor result attributable to an excessively high payroll compared to insufficient sporting results, if we take into consideration the elimination in the round of 16 of the Champions League against Bayern. In this area of payroll, PSG is well ahead of Real Madrid (€452.7 million) or Manchester City (€486.3 million), two clubs having workforces at least as talented but above all having had a successful career more remunerative European. From there to thinking that the French champion could have overpaid his squad in relation to their performances, there is only one step.
However, we must also take into account that over the past decade, the internationalization of the PSG brand has taken place around those of “marquee players”, such as Beckham, Zlatan and the others. But if we add the tax disadvantages from which Ligue 1 suffers compared to its competitors, as well as the weakness of global TV rights, the Mediapro fiasco, it became necessary to change course to once again respect the criteria of Financial Fair Play. This is an explanation for last summer’s transfer window. Note that the club with 11 French championship crowns managed to reduce its losses by 70% compared to the previous season and to reduce the costs of setting up the team to 79% of the revenue generated, compared to 109% in 2021. -22.
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If this study therefore tends to validate the 10-year management strategy of PSG version QSI, it is nevertheless necessary to qualify it and to question the economic challenges which await the club for the years to come. Balance your expenses by reducing the share of your payroll. Its main competitors managing to keep it below 60% of turnover, this is the objective to pursue for this new cycle. By perhaps being a little less generous in salary for example, by keeping only one headliner after the departures of Messi, Neymar, Sergio Ramos and Marco Verratti, or by agreeing not to systematically play one-upmanship on the Mbappé file?
If reducing the share of the wage bill can be achieved through stricter salary controls, this must be accompanied by an increase in income. The level of commercial revenue will be difficult to improve, especially after the departures of cash machines Messi and Neymar and the possible departure of Mbappé at the end of the season. And this even if the South Korean Kang-in Lee represents a goose that lays golden eggs… On the other hand, a better European career would automatically generate greater UEFA income.
Another possible lever: ticketing. PSG makes the most of its current venue, the Parc des Princes, but also knows its limits. Too cramped, the club’s historic stadium no longer meets the standard of one of the biggest powers on the Old Continent. The comparison with the jewels with more than 80,000 seats in which Real Madrid or Manchester City play is eloquent in this respect. Stadiums which these clubs own, which is not the case for PSG. A problem well understood by the club, wishing to acquire the Parc des Princes to renovate it, but which is currently coming up against the refusal of the Paris town hall to sell. To take a step forward, the development of PSG certainly requires a new forum. In Paris or elsewhere?
