Leicester City are set for a potential £150m boost for winning the Premier League title. It is estimated that Leicester’s victory could be worth around (N43.5 billion, $218.8 million, 189.52 million euros) in revenue to the modest east midlands club, up from £104.4 million for last year.
The sum comprises Premier League prize money, Champions League participation cash, and increased match day revenues from ticket and hospitality sales.
Leicester clinched a fairytale first championship on Monday evening. The East Midlands club will now feature in the UEFA Champions League next season, taking them to an even larger European and world TV audience.
Leicester’s bank balance will profit from the benefits that champions enjoy in the months to come. For simply competing in the Champions League group stage, Leicester will receive £9.3million while each win will further line their pockets to the tune of £1.2m. Even a draw at Europe’s top table generates £390,000.
Added to that is a slice of the TV revenue drawn from BT Sport’s massive £897m three-year investment in European football.
On Social Media, Leicester City has also enjoyed massive growth as This season, the club’s Facebook page following has grown by a huge 540%, making it one of the fastest growing accounts of any sports team globally.
Algeria’s 500,000 followers represent Leicester City’s largest fan base on the social network (16.7%), thanks to the performances of PFA Player of the Season, team winger Riyad Mahrez.
There have also been large increases in Thailand and Italy, the homelands of the club’s owners and manager respectively.
Spencer Nolan, head of consulting at Repucom UK and Ireland, said adding fans worldwide remained “central to realizing the club’s full potential as a commercial entity”.
“While it is too early to really evaluate the rapidly growing fan bases we are starting to see across Asia for example, social media provides us an opportunity to start to quantify this surge.”
Mr Nolan said the summer would be an important time for the East Midlands club to build its commercial presence.
“Leicester City FC’s real commercial potential will become clearer in the season break as brands vie to associate themselves to the club and, in turn, the league winners aim to maximize the returns their status could command,” he said.
He also said that in the 2015-16 season, Leicester’s TV audiences had soared by more than 23% globally – “which will help to increase the value of their sponsorship properties next term”.
“The task now is to optimize the value of those assets and ensure they attract the incomes Leicester City could now generate.”
