12Welsh sports clubs in a league of their own
Sport plays a huge part in people’s lives whether as passionate spectators or participants, but it’s also a huge business that is worth hundreds of millions of pounds to the Welsh economy. Here we rank the 12 biggest sports clubs and organisations in Wale
SWANSEA CITY: £97.2M
As Wales’ only Premier League football club, with the lucrative TV income that flows as a result, it will come as little surprise that Swansea City tops the revenue league table of sporting clubs and organisations in Wales.
In its latest full year audited accounts submitted to Companies House for the year the end of July, 2016, the Liberty Stadium-based club generated revenues of £97.2m.
The biggest contributor was TVrelated income which amounted to £79m. It posted pre-tax losses of £14m.
But Premier League playing squads soak up the lion’s share of revenues. And for Swansea City its salary bill - including social security costs – came in at £81.7m.
But the impact of the spend of its players and staff – and that of the club on its supply chain – provides a considerable economic boost to Swansea and the wider city region.
There is also the positive factor of visiting fans on the region’s retail, leisure and hotel sectors.
And with a global football TV audience for Premier League matches, the club plays an important role in promoting Swansea and Wales to the world as a tourism, business and investment location.
WELSH RUGBY UNION: £74.9M
The Welsh Rugby Union recently posted it its highest ever revenues, as well as reinvesting a record amount back into the game at all levels. For the financial year to the end of the June, 2017, the union generated revenues of nearly £75m, compared to £73.3m a year earlier.
And the amount reinvested back into game was up 11% to £36.6m. Along with a £21m allocation to the four professional regions – which included £1m into regional academies – investment in the community game was up 10% to £8.7m.
Almost half in £35m (£27.9m in the previous year) came from match income, which, as well as ticket sales, also includes revenues from the various TV deals for the Six Nations, European competitions, the autumn international series and the Pro14 league (last season the Pro12).
Commercial activity was up from £12.3m to £12.8m, with hospitality and catering income down from £11.4m to £10.9m.
Other event income was down from £5.4m to £2.1m. This was down to the fact that in the previous year the WRU received a boost for hosting eight games in the Rugby World Cup.
The £2.1m figure last year included the fee it received from Uefa for hosting the Champions League Final between Real Madrid and Juventus.
SPORT WALES: £43.5M
Sport Wales provide grants and support to a wide range of sports in Wales, as well as driving up sporting participation levels across all social groups and ages.
In its current 2017-18 business plan it has a stated total investment budget of £43.5m, backed by a combination of funding from the Lottery and the Welsh Government.
Of this £16.1m is for sport at a local community level. £12.4m for communities national, £7.4m for elite and performance sport and £7.8m for corporate and sports developments.
CARDIFF CITY: £33.19M
Cardiff City, which only a few seasons ago, were playing in the Premier League alongside Swansea City, now has to operate with significantly reduced incomes and diminishing parachute payments from its single season (2013-14) in the top flight. It is also heavily indebted to its principal owner, Vincent Tan. For its latest audited accounts , for the year to May 31, 2016, the now Championship club regenerated revenues of £33.19m, compared to £40.29m a year early – mainly as a result of a reduction in its parachute payment. Its total wage bill, with social security costs, was £33.5m. Of the amount £25.4m went on its players. It posted losses of £8m, which would have been far worse but for an exceptional item in the accounts relating to a discharge of £10m of the amount owned to Mr Tan. The total borrowings of the club at the time was more than £100m.
FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION OF WALES (FAW): £20.9M
Like with the WRU with rugby, the principal role of the FAW is to promote and administer the game of football Wales. And following the stunning success of the national team at the European Championships with the team getting to the semifinals, it more than doubled its turnover in the year to the end of June, 2016.
This swelled its revenues to £20.9m, compared to £10.3m a year earlier.
It was also able to post a pre-tax profit of £1.19m, compared to a loss of nearly £761,000 a year earlier.
During the year it had a headcount of 44.
OSPREYS: £9.1M
The Liberty Stadiumbased club, for the 201516 financial year, increased revenues by more than £700,000 on the previous year to £9.1m.
The was helped by commercial activity (up 7%) and a small rise in ticket sales.
However, the Ospreys posted pretax losses of £511,000.
The pre-tax losses, compared to a profit of £149,00 a year earlier, were impacted by one off exceptional items totalling £382,661, including bad debt provision for £213,000 owed by a commercial sponsor.
On a more meaningful comparative measure of operating profit. the Ospreys made a loss of £73,252, compared to a profit of £226,831 a year earlier.
Staff costs – it had a total workforce of 133 of which 61 were players for the year – were up more than £500,000 on the previous year from £5.5m to just over £6m.
Total running costs were up just over a £1m to £7.3m.
SCARLETS: £8.95M
The Parc y Scarlets-based club generated revenues pretty much in line with the Osprey and the Blues. For the year to the end of June, 2016, the Scarlets has a turnover of £8.95m, just a few thousand pound more than the previous year. It also posted pre-tax losses of £1.5m, up nearly £500,000 on the previous year.
For the year its number of staff, which includes players, was up from 120 a year earlier to 196.
As a result total remuneration, which as well as salaries included social security and pension cost, was up from £.6.4m to just over £7m.]
But last year (outside the latest accounts) it had a great season on the pitch by lifting the Pro12 play-off title.
CARDIFF BLUES: £8.4M
While the previous year was a 13-month period, on a like-like for basis, losses widened from £657,950 to £1.49m for the Arms Park club for its financial year to the end of June, 2016.
Revenues for the Blues were down £800,000 from £9.2m to £8.4m.
The worsening financial position was a result of a £300,000 fall in ticket and retail income.
The club is currently trying, although there now appears to be an impasse, to strike a new long-term lease with landlord of the the Arms Park, Cardiff Athletic Club, with development rights for the ground.
If agreement is reached this could see a new rugby-playing indoor arena built at the ground, as well as other commercial developments, including apartments.
GLAMORGAN COUNTY CRICKET CLUB: £6.66M
Last year (2016 calender) was always going to be a more challenging one for the first-class cricket county having successfully staged an England v Australia Ashes test match in the previous season.
This saw Glamorgan’s turnover reducing from £10.65m a year earlier to £6.66m in 2016. It also posted pretax losses of just over £1m.
But the outlook could be very bright indeed for the club, if it is successful in its bid to become one of eight city-based teams to play in a new T20 competition from 2020.
This could see the club doubling its revenues.
It has also been working hard to generate non-cricket-related income from hosting conferences and events at its home, the SSE Swalec Stadium in Cardiff. This now generates more than £1m in revenues.
While it negotiated a few years back a significant write-off on its debt associated with the redevelopment of what is now the SSE Swalec Stadium, it has a debt position of £6.9m.
For 2017 the club is forecasting an Ebitda profit of £1.5m, having received additional fees of £1m from the England and Wales Cricket Board and the hosting of international games in the Champions Trophy over the summer.
THE DRAGONS: £4.1M
The club and the freehold interest in its ground Rodney Parade is now wholly-owned by the Welsh Rugby Union, following its acquisition of the Dragons over the summer.
However, in the year to the end of May, 2016, the Dragons had a turnover of £4.1m and pre-tax losses of £761,495.
WREXHAM AFC: £2.09M
The once flag-bearer for Welsh football in Europe, Wrexham is now outside the English football league in the Conference.
Its latest audited accounts for the year to the end of June, 2016, show the Racecoursebased club generating revenues of just over £2m.
The club, which is owned by its members through a trust, also posted pre-tax losses of £197,274, compared to a small profit of £11,587 in the previous year.Its biggest revenue income was from gate receipts at just over £900,000. Its football costs came in at just over £1m
This season the club is hoping to get promotion back in the football league.
NEWPORT COUNTY: £2.03M
The club, which plays in the Second Division of the English football league, generated a turnover of just over £2m for the financial year to the end of June, 2016.
And having made pre-tax losses of £676,000 in the previous year, Newport County posted a profit of £340,678.
It’s trading position was boosted by £723,000 from transfer income, which included the sale of Regan Poole to Manchester United and Aaron Collins to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
It has a long-term lease to play at Rodney Parade, which is now owned by the Welsh Rugby Union.