Lyon Are (Sort of) Rich and Popular
By: Inara | September 22nd, 2007A few days ago, Bob thoughtfully pointed out BBDO’s newest rankings of the most valuable football clubs. As many of you can guess, a club’s value is a combination of it’s marketability (brand popularity and image), as well as its income. Now I know that Lyon is a vaguely rich club, but I had no idea that it was considered to be popular enough to be ranked 11th.
Brand value listed in millions of euros:
1. Real Madrid (Spain) 1,063
2. Barcelona (Spain) 948
3. Manchester United (England) 922
4. Chelsea (England) 828
5. AC Milan (Italy) 824
6. Bayern Munich (Germany) 727
7. Inter Milan (Italy) 715
8. Arsenal (England 712
9. Juventus (Italy) 709
10. Liverpool (England) 645
11. Lyon (France) 453
12. AS Roma (Italy) 441
13. Schalke 04 (Germany) 436
14. Ajax (Netherlands) 368
15. Rangers (Scotland) 332
16. Valencia (Spain) 319
17. Benfica (Portugal) 318
18. Celtic (Scotland) 315
19. Stuttgart (Germany) 288
20. Werder Bremen (Germany) 275
21. Porto (Portugal) 255
22. PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands) 242
23. Sevilla (Spain) 235
24. Villarreal (Spain) 234
25. Lille (France) 206
Strangely, eleven seems to be Lyon’s lucky number because that is the same position they occupy on the list of the richest football clubs (based on yearly revenue).
At first I got excited at seeing tangible proof of Lyon’s journey into becoming a big club, but there are two things to keep in mind. First, the gulf between 10th and 11th place is nearly 200 million euros (whereas between 11th and 12th it’s like twenty). While I have no doubts that Lyon will pull away from Roma and Schalke, it will be a very long time before they can dislodge Liverpool. It’s the same story with revenue as well.
The second thing to keep in mind is that this is an academic survey and has very little impact on actual business. In fact, I think BBDO’s ranking is kind of weird because 25th is Lille. I like Lille a lot, but how can they be more marketable than Marseille?
Then again, I’m getting my degree in virology, not business, so what do I know?
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Comments
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Lille is more popular than Marseille?
That seems odd to me.Posted from
France
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Lille more popular than Rennes? Sounds fine to me.
I’m more surprised about Ajax, Rangers, Celtic, Benfica, Porto and PSV’s positions… The get relatively little money in TV rights, and aren’t favoured by being very sucessful in Europe (Porto and PSV are exceptions on that point).
I wonder “how” they calculated it, and why Boca Juniors and other south American clubs aren’t even in the top 25…
Posted from
France -
Seems this study was conducted by BBDO`s home base here in Düsseldorf. They published an English press release with more in depth information about the nature of the study and the results on their homepage.
http://www.bbdo.de/de/home/presse/aktuell/2007/19_09_2007_-_real0.html
Posted from
Germany -
Maybe the people that came up with this “brand value” can explain to me how on Earth is Rangers worth more then Valencia?
Posted from
United Kingdom -
Also I think Lyonnais will NOT pull away from Roma. I think Roma will overtake Lyonnais. That richest football clubs lists is for the 2005/2006 season where Lyonnais are €0.7 million better off then Roma. One thing to take into consideraion for that season is that Lyonnais competed in the Champions League while Roma competed in the UEFA Cup. Lyonnais got signifcantly more money then Roma because of that. For the 2006/2007 season results both clubs competed in the Champions League and I fully expect Roma to sail past Lyonnais. These results will be most likely be released in January. That will also mean that Roma’s “brand value” will go past Lyonnais’ as well.
Posted from
United Kingdom -
Taib, I think the reason Rangers have more of a value is because Valencia is competing with other clubs in Spain for popularity, especially Barca, Real, and that’s not including Zaragoza, Atletico, Sevilla, etc. Whereas in Scotland, it’s pretty much Rangers or Celtic. Also, Rangers have a significant amount of fans in England and in the US too. So they are more marketable outside of their city.
As for the Roma thing, Chris said the same thing. But some things to keep in mind: The additional broadcasting money will increase Roma’s revenue by another 20 million, but Lyon’s broadcasting revenue will increase too since the Canal+ deal has gone into effect at that time (and for 2008-2009, it’s likely an even better deal will be in place). Also, while Roma are still paying off their debts, Lyon have none. Once their new stadium is built, their income from ticketing will nearly triple. Added to that are the other companies under OL Groupe, which also add to Lyon’s income. I imagine Roma is a more popular club in terms of supporters and probably is more marketable that way, but I think Lyon have a better long term financial strategy. Things could change if Roma get an outside investor who will pump money into the club, but otherwise, I think Lyon will be in 11th place for a long time.
We’ll see though, as this is all speculation.
Posted from
United States -
Not sure an even better deal will be in place for 2008-2009. That’s war between LFP and Canal +, who absolutely doesn’t want to pay 600 000 000 euros again for a “so bad” spectacle… We’ll know it in november.
Posted from
France -
Actually, I think the LFP will get what they want. They ball is in their court. Canal+ need football whereas the LFP can find another broadcaster. Being a paid channel, a lot of people get Canal+ to watch the games, not occasional special programs.
Sure, L1 isn’t what they were hoping for, but it’s still the football league most French viewers want to see.
Posted from
United States -
I agree with you about the fact that most Canl + viewers are football fan (I’m the living example), but I cannot see WHICH paid channel can pay more than 650 000 000 by year, in France.
Posted from
France
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