The closed door measures in the five major European leagues over the last two seasons, due to the Covid pandemic, have deprived clubs of 2.5 billion euros in "match day" revenue, the cabinet said on Tuesday. KPMG.

From spring 2020, the competitions were suspended for a while and those which resumed ended the exercise in empty stadiums, reducing by 27% the number of matches with audiences in the 2019/2020 season in England, Germany, Spain, Italy and France, explains the study.

This led to "a significant drop of around 500 million euros in cumulative match day revenue (ticketing, sponsors, merchandising, catering), to 1.9 billion euros," she said.

Barça and Real the most affected

The impact was strongest in the Bundesliga, the league with the highest average number of spectators per match in the world (42,000), with 157 million euros in losses for the 18 clubs, while Ligue 1, with an attendance average of 23,000 spectators per game, lost three times less (48 million euros).

At the club level, and in absolute terms, it is Barcelona and Real Madrid who have been the most injured, with 39 and 35 million euros in losses.

As a result, their revenues amounted to 136 and 120 million euros.

The 2020/2021 season having taken place almost completely behind closed doors in the five countries, KPMG expects a cumulative loss of “more than 2 billion euros” for this financial year.

The audit firm believes that the season which has just started will offer only partial recovery of these losses.

Disparities on the recovery

The regulatory frameworks are very different and are likely to change depending on the country, with England allowing full capacity stadiums while Spain only allows 40% attendance and Italian Serie A 50%.

Other measures, such as a ban on the sale of food and drink in Spain could also impact club revenues, as heavier protocols for entering stadiums and necessary amenities will represent additional costs.

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