Tottenham Hotspur are a rich club. We’ve known that for a few years already, but now we know this: Spurs are even richer. The Deloitte Money League released its annual report on world football finances today, based on club financial records from the 2022-23 season, and it shows that Tottenham are now the eighth richest club in world football with a revenue of €631.5m.
This is an increase of €108.5m over the 2021-22 season and catapults Spurs ahead of Chelsea in the money rankings, making Spurs officially the richest football club in London. The increase was marked by notable increases in both commercial and broadcasting revenue, with only a slight increase in matchday revenue.
I’m not a finance bro and won’t pretend to be well versed in interpreting these numbers, but to my eyes, this represents the successful leveraging of Spurs’ most important asset — their stadium. Spurs have not only had football matches in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but also have a continuing partnership with the NFL, and have hosted rugby and boxing, as well as notable concerts, including several well-publicized and sold-out shows by Beyoncé.
This money machine, combined with Tottenham’s adherence to financial stability means Spurs are well placed compared to their peers, with the possibility of improving both commercial and broadcast revenues in the future. In the report, Deloitte notes that English football clubs should continue to see strong economic growth in the coming years. It should be noted, however, that last season also saw Spurs make it to the knock-out rounds of the Champions League; this season Spurs have no European football and hence see a downtick in broadcast and matchday revenue compared to last.
Even so, jumping ahead of Chelsea as the richest club in London is significant, as well as banter-worthy. Spurs are also within spitting distance of Liverpool’s financial strength, though they are some ways off of the next couple of clubs in the rankings, notably Bayern Munich (€744m) and Manchester United (€745.8m). Building the stadium was supposed to be a great leveler that would increase Tottenham’s financial power to closer to the top, and it’s working.
And it’s not just the men’s team. Deloitte also released a report on women’s football, and Tottenham are the tenth richest club in Europe with a revenue of €2.4m.
This is well behind Barcelona with a staggering €13.4m, and Spurs are only the fifth richest club in England behind Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, and Chelsea. But being “best of the rest” in England isn’t too shabby considering the huge advantage the clubs above have. In short, women’s football continues to be poised for a huge increase in growth, and Spurs are hopefully set up to capitalize on that growth when it comes. Spurs could, however, easily increase their own spending considering the wide disparity in money between the men’s and women’s games.
The full report is worth reading if you’re interested in this sort of thing. But the future looks bright for both Tottenham Hotspur’s men’s and women’s teams.