Premier League champions Leicester City may be set to haul in a cash windfall of around £150 million following their historic title triumph this season.
Upon the full-time whistle of Tottenham Hotspurs’ 2-2 draw with Chelsea last night, Leicester were confirmed Premier League champions having established a seven-point lead with only two games left to play.
This means Leicester have won the first league title in the history of the club and become only the sixth different team to win England’s top tier in its current Premier League incarnation, joining Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers.
After achieving promotion last season, Leicester required a late surge to avoid relegation and finish 14th under Nigel Pearson, who was replaced in the summer by Claudio Ranieri.
According to sports marketing analysts Repucom, it is estimated this campaign’s remarkable achievement could earn Leicester around £150m, with that figure consisting of prize money, Champions League participation, TV funds and increased ticket and hospitality sales from a growing fanbase.
Sponsorship assets will also likely rise in valuation for the Midlands-based team.
Spencer Nolan, head of consulting at Repucom, believes their success will generate growth within Leicester’s fan base, which would then improve marketing revenue.
“While it is too early to really evaluate the rapidly growing fan bases we are starting to see across Asia for example, social media provides us an opportunity to start to quantify this surge,” he told BBC Sport.
Roughly half a million of Leicester’s fanbase (16.7%) on Facebook is from Algeria, predominantly owing to Riyad Mahrez’s starring role in the side.
The Algeria international won this season’s PFA Player of the Year award.
“Leicester City FC’s real commercial potential will become clearer in the season break as brands vie to associate themselves to the club and, in turn, the league winners aim to maximise the returns their status could command,” Nolan continued.
He also added that this season, Leicester’s television audiences have soared by more than 23%, “which will help to increase the value of their sponsorship properties next term.”
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