Real Madrid are once again at the top of Forbes' list of football's richest clubs. The Spanish giants, who won the LaLiga title and have progressed to Saturday's Champions League final, will be flush with cash from both competitions when the total amounts are paid out.
They will take home in excess of £100m for reaching the European showpiece and Los Blancos' value has risen 7 percent, seeing them leapfrog fierce rivals Barcelona, who topped the Forbes list last year. Real have been renovating their iconic Bernabeu stadium to the tune of £675million but recently struck an important deal.
The club secured £301m from investment firm Sixth Street and Legends in which the new partners 'acquired the right to participate in the operation of certain businesses of the new Santiago Bernabéu stadium for a period of twenty years.' Sixth Street's deal is for two decades and they have a 30 per cent stake in the stadium operations.
The Covid crisis badly affected both Real Madrid and Barcelona, particularly with the inability to fill the stadiums. Renovations on the Bernabeu have been funded by JP Morgan and Bank of America, taking the cumulative borrowing to £669m.
Real are the sixth most valuable sports team in the world after the Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees, New York Knicks, Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers, in that order. Their old foes Barcelona have hit headlines for huge debts and an unstable financial situation but they remain the second most valuable football club according to Forbes.
Their whopping £364m shirt and stadium sponsorship deal with Spotify is a major shot in the arm and Barcelona are also reportedly close to agreeing a £763m deal with Goldman Sachs and All Sport Finance. This would be in exchange for 30 percent of the club's broadcast money and an amount of revenues from the new stadium complex.
Barcelona are worth six percent more than last year and are tied with the New England Patriots as the seventh most valuable team in any sport. The Premier League remains the wealthiest in terms of broadcast revenue but Manchester United and Liverpool must settle for third and fourth respectively in the football clubs list.
There is huge unrest from supporters who want the Glazers to sell up at United and the American owners are paying themselves £11m despite the horrendous performance on the pitch this season.
United's matchday revenue is £50m and their brand is valued at £623m in comparison to Liverpool's £50m matchday and £583 brand. The Reds' value has increased nine percent from last year and that should increase again with the windfall for finishing second in the Premier League and reaching the Champions League final.
United by contrast may suffer in next year's list having failed to qualify for Europe's top table. Premier League champions Manchester City are sixth in Forbes' list with a six percent rise on last year. Their matchday revenue is far below their rivals, totalling only £4m. The feature behind Bayern Munich, the only German side in the top ten, and ahead of PSG and Chelsea.
Italian representation comes in the form of Juventus at No 9 and their fortunes are on the wane after a disappointing season saw them relinquish their crown to AC Milan. Tottenham are 10th and are still paying off their stadium but will be buoyed by the fourth-place finish to qualify for the Champions League.
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