GRAPHS: Revenue of European Football Leagues

I found this interesting graph on The Economist. For some reason, it is difficult to find data on salaries and revenues of European soccer leagues, teams and players. On the contrary, similar data is readily available for American professional sports leagues.

As a big Serie A fan, I am disheartened to see the Italian league losing out on the revenue race. Serie A is not only trailing in terms of money, but also talent and level of competition. The English Premier League and Spanish La Liga are clearly the best in Europe with Serie A being third. Despite the large revenue, the German Bundasliga is probably a distant fourth. Why is that? My suspicion is that Germany does not have the appeal of an Italy or Spain. May be the fact that Bayern Munich is leaps and bounds above all the other lubs in Bundasliga has had an adverse effect on the league as a whole. In England, you have four teams( Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal) always closely competing for the top spot. In Spain, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletico Madrid and Sevilla all contend for La Liga. In Italy, Juventus, AC Milan, Intermilan and AS Roma always have credible chances of winning the Scudetto. In Bundasliga, Bayern Munich is the undisputed number one. It has won the German League five of the last eight years. The lack of serious competition in Bundasliga has probably hampered its development despite its large revenue.

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