The English Football Association (FA) has suffered a £34m (€41.8m/$56.9m) drop in income during a year in which the governing body set a record for the amount it re-invested in the sport.
The FA reported that income fell from £327m in 2011-12 to £299m in 2012-13. Despite the drop in income, the organisation still made an operating profit of £28m and was able to increase the amount it re-invested into football by £11m to £108m.
The FA attributed the majority of the drop in income to the collapse of a deal with pay-television broadcaster Setanta in 2009. The FA was forced to strike a two-year deal with UK commercial broadcaster ITV for England matches and club competition the FA Cup, with the agreement due to expire in July.
The regulatory body also said revenue was cut by £10m last year after the England national team was not involved in a major tournament during the period. However, the drop in income was offset by £15m in extra cash generated by the new national football centre at St George’s Park as well as an extra £7m from Wembley Stadium, which staged events such as the 2013 Uefa Champions League final and football games at the 2012 London summer Olympic Games.
The FA said it expects broadcast revenue to increase in future seasons. The FA said in a statement: “This reduction is partly offset by the additional international broadcasting revenues generated by the rights granted to nine broadcasters over the six-year period to July 2018. All of the Group’s broadcasting rights are sold to July 2018 and domestic broadcasting revenues will increase from the 2014-15 season.”
