Premier League footballer wages are so high it's killing off club profits
England-based first division football clubs are raking in huge amounts of revenue but it is also paying out record high salaries to players, meaning profits are being hurt badly, according to figures released on Friday from accountancy firm Deloitte.
The clubs reported combined revenues reached a record £3.4 billion.
However pre-tax profits were down to £120 million from £190 million.
So why does profits seem so measly, considering how much they rake in on sales? - Because they paid players a record £2 billion ($2.8 billion) in the 2014/15 season, a rise of 6% from last year.
But despite the increase in wage costs, Deloitte insists that the pay/revenue ratio is still the second lowest in the Premier League in the last 10 years.
Dan Jones, partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, was upbeat about the figures:
"The perennial problem for Premier League clubs was to convert impressive revenue growth into profitability. We saw this problem solved with record breaking results last year. The new challenge was to sustain this financial success, and the Premier League clubs have accomplished this in impressive style in the latest results.
"With further significant revenue increases already guaranteed for the next broadcast cycle, starting in 2016/17, there is every reason to be confident of the Premier League clubs' profitability being here to stay."
The highest paid Premier League footballer is Manchester United's Wayne Rooney, who is paid £260,000 a week according to soccer website Sports Joe.
As Business Insider previously reported, banking giant Barclays is dropping its headline sponsorship of the the Premiership next season as the league looks to diversify its endorsements.
The Premier League is the most-watched football league in the world, broadcast in 212 territories to 643 million homes and a potential TV audience of 4.7 billion people, according to The Times.