It compares the finances of all 54 top flight leagues in Europe for the 2014 financial year, which makes for interesting reading. Most of the press coverage has been focused on the English Premier League and how its income dwarves pretty much everyone else.
But what does it say about the Scottish Premiership, and how it compares to other leagues?
(note - I think, given there are constant references to the 2014/15 season, that the numbers are supposed to be linked to that period, rather than 2013/14. But I could be wrong. It doesn't make it less interesting though)
Comparing income
Scotland ranks 14th in Europe for overall revenue, but revenue is down 25% on five years ago (possibly due to the Rangers factor?)
Celtic's revenue is not even close to Europe's top 30 clubs. In fact, the entire revenue of all twelve Scottish Premiership clubs added up to slightly less than that of Newcastle United (ranked 22nd in Europe).
We're still getting people through the turnstiles
Revenue from gate receipts is impressive - tenth overall in Europe (despite Rangers, Hearts and Hibs not being in the top flight!). Celtic ranked twentieth amongst all clubs in this area, but reported a drop in gate receipts of 20% from the previous season. Only in Switzerland does a higher percentage of overall revenue come from gate receipts.
'Gate receipt revenues per attendee', which I assume means the cost of a ticket, is the joint-fifth highest in Europe at 22 euros...but the gap between the top four and the rest is very large.
Comparing TV deals
Scotland made 19 million euros from broadcasting in 2014/15 - less than the likes of Norway or Russia. However, because of the size of the top division, the amount of revenue per club ranks twelfth in Europe, which is much higher than I expected. Denmark is the only country with a comparable population which ranks higher (2.6 million Euros per club, compared to 1.6 million euros per club in Scotland)
The percentage of revenue Scottish clubs make from broadcasting is, at 13%, lower than those of countries who have higher overall revenue.
Lack of sponsorship money
The Scottish Premiership made 47 million euros from sponsorship and commercial revenues, an average of less than 4 million euros per club. This was the one area in which we seemed to lag significantly behind. In Norway, for example, the figure was 80 million euros. In Austria, where the TV deal is smaller than ours, the figure was 88 million euros.
The Premiership's uncompetitiveness laid bare
Despite Aberdeen keeping Celtic reasonably honest in the league, the Scottish Premiership had the joint second highest points gap (17 points) between first and second of any top divisions. It is pointed out, though, that in 2013/14 the points gap in Scotland was the highest in Europe - 29 points (which was the biggest in Europe in the last 50 years!)
In Scotland, the league winners had a wage bill more than 500% higher than the second placed team - the biggest gap in Europe by miles (second were France, at 148%)
Punching below our weight in Europe
Only one country (Latvia) has had a bigger drop in coefficient ranking in the last decade than Scotland, which has gone from eleventh in 2006 to twenty-third now...behind the likes of Cyprus and Belarus.
Compared to the amount of spending by our top four clubs, UEFA reckons we have one of the most underperforming leagues on the European stage - possibly (though it's not absolutely clear from the graph we use) the most underperforming of all.
And a nice little factoid...
The Scottish Cup is one of only three domestic cup competitions in Europe which still uses replays.
Conclusions? Well, our attendances are pretty damn good, and the amount of sponsorship money really isn't. And our clubs should be doing much better in Europe than they currently are. Maybe it doesn't tell us much we didn't already suspect, but there's food for thought here, I reckon.
Lawrie Spence (LS) has ranted and spouted his ill-informed opinions on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007. He has a life outside this blog. Honestly.
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