Football is one of the most valuable industries in the world. In the 2024/25 season, the top 20 European clubs generated more than €12.4 billion in total income, growing 11% YoY. According to the latest Deloitte Football Money League, commercial revenue is now the largest stream for leading clubs for the third consecutive year, reaching €5.3 billion.

Commercial revenue has long been central to elite football. What has changed is how that value is generated and scaled. Growth is now driven by improved retail performance, rising sponsorship income, digital engagement, and the use of data and insights to personalise fan experience and increase repeat value. Stadiums are also being repositioned as year-round assets. For example, Wembley Stadium, hosted about 40 major events in 2024 with total attendance of roughly 2.9 million people and projected more than 2 million concert goers for 2025, illustrating how venues now generate substantial commercial activity outside traditional football fixtures.

The clubs growing fastest financially are those that have moved beyond isolated revenue streams and built connected digital ecosystems. For example, in the 2024/25 season Real Madrid generated €1.161 billion in total revenue, with commercial income growing 23% through stronger merchandising and new global partnerships, even in a year without major on pitch success. These figures show how diversified performance is now a core driver of financial strength for elite clubs.

In the strongest models, fan passion fuels ongoing engagement that is deliberately converted into repeat revenue across multiple touchpoints. Digital experience and connected fan data are the enablers. They allow clubs to personalise interactions, unify journeys across platforms and turn engagement into measurable commercial outcomes.

Last year, we explored why sports clubs must start thinking like retailers, focusing on mindset, channels and the shift from one off transactions to long term relationships.

Today, the question is no longer whether clubs should adopt a retail mindset. The challenge is execution. Clubs are now judged on how effectively they engage fans beyond the pitch and convert that engagement into sustained performance, at scale and over time.

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Growth has moved beyond performance

For decades, football growth followed a simple pattern. Strong results on the pitch drove attendance, merchandise sales and sponsorship demand. Commercial performance rose and fell with league position and the lifting of trophies.

In a year-round attention economy, fan engagement now extends far beyond the pitch and the stadium. A strong example is Liverpool Football Club’s landmark global fashion partnership with Tommy Hilfiger, the brand’s first collaboration with a football club. The agreement positions Tommy Hilfiger as Liverpool’s official global fashion partner and involves curated seasonal collections, co-branded capsules and lifestyle wardrobe activations showcased across campaigns and select matchday moments, helping the club connect with fans through fashion, culture and identity rather than results alone.  

This example shows that clubs are increasingly expanding into lifestyle and cultural contexts where fan passion translates into engagement opportunities beyond matchday. Fashion partnerships like this gives supporters new ways to interact with a club’s brand and identity, contributing to engagement that sustains interest and commercial relevance across the calendar and within communities.  

There are also further examples such as LeBron James, and Nike which proved a strategic move for Nike to expand into new markets whilst equipping LeBron with opportunity to connect his personal brand with fans. Giving Nike over $400 million dollars in revenue since signing the deal.

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Turning fan passion into commercial performance

The clubs capturing growth beyond the pitch are not just doing more. They are doing it differently. They treat fans as a part of their community and build commercial systems around that behaviour.

Arsenal is a strong example of a club becoming a lifestyle brand outside the football calendar through community-based collaborations and high-visibility apparel initiatives. Vogue described Arsenal as fashion’s favourite football club, reflecting how culture and identity now influence fan engagement and brand demand.  

Barcelona shows the same dynamic through cultural drops and digital retail performance. In the 2024/25 season, the club reported a record 55% increase in ecommerce sales, supported by high profile creative tie ins such as limited-edition jerseys linked to music artists during major fixtures. This turns fan passion into cultural relevance and commercial demand, powered by brand strength, digital distribution and high demand product strategy.

These types of collaborations give fans reasons to engage with the club every day. When supported by digital experience and connected fan data, clubs can personalise interactions, unify journeys across platforms, measure behaviour, and turn engagement into repeat revenue through retail, content and partnerships. When done correctly as can be seen, the yield is strong, however this is often untapped by clubs and left to minimal digital connections beyond social platforms.  

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What clubs must build beyond the pitch

Capturing growth beyond the pitch is not about launching more campaigns. It is about building a commercial digital system that works year-round and scales across markets.

The clubs that outperform have four fundamentals in place:

1. They design for repeat engagement, not one-off moments

2. They connect brand, commerce and experience, so touchpoints reinforce each other

3. They use connected fan data to personalise and measure outcomes  

4. They operate beyond matchday through always on content, retail, partnerships and venue activation

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Where growth breaks down

Most clubs recognise the opportunity. Far fewer have the internal resource, structure, and experience to capture it. Growth usually breaks down at operational execution, not through strategy.

Ticketing, hospitality, retail, partnerships and digital are all revenue generating channels, but they are often run as separate parts of the business. Data is fragmented. Ownership of the fan journey is unclear. Many clubs also lack the digital retail capability required to scale ecommerce, personalise engagement and convert demand consistently.

The result is leakage and missed opportunities. Engagement exists, but commercial performance remains inconsistent and overly dependent on results.

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How TCTG can help

At The Commerce Team Global, we help football clubs turn growth beyond the pitch into measurable commercial performance

• We combine strategic consulting and hands on delivery, helping clubs build the connected ecosystem required to convert fan engagement into revenue

• We run commerce and technical audits, define digital roadmaps, shape loyalty and data strategies that strengthen fan relationships and increase repeat value

• We deliver unified commerce across ecommerce, ticketing, data and marketing, integrating suppliers and fulfilment to improve performance at scale

• We optimise the operational layer, from inventory and order flow to matchday and non-matchday logistics, in addition to post purchase journeys that drive retention and lifetime value

We understand football and we understand commerce. If your club is ready to move from engagement to execution, let’s get that proverbial ball rolling.

‍Contact us at: info@thecommerceteam.com

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