Manchester City’s Financial Case: The Commercial Risks Behind The Verdict

Manchester City’s financial case has entered a new phase. With reports that the club has been found guilty of numerous breaches of Premier League financial rules, attention is now turning to possible sanctions. Relegation remains hypothetical, but what would such a severe outcome actually mean for one of football’s biggest businesses?

Manchester City generated £694.1 million in revenue in 2024/25. Commercial revenue accounted for £340.4 million, broadcasting for £278.6 million and matchday revenue for £75.1 million. Despite that scale, the club still reported a £9.9 million net loss, compared with a £73.8 million profit a year earlier. City attributed the change partly to higher spending on players and a lower profit from player sales.

Broadcasting and European football

The clearest financial hit would come from broadcasting.

A Championship club operates in a very different media economy from a Premier League club. For City, the impact could extend further because its commercial model is also built around the Champions League. 

City’s broadcasting revenue already dropped £16.1 million in 2024/25, with the club saying an earlier Champions League exit was the biggest contributor to the decline.

A Championship season would represent a much more fundamental change in the product City is selling to broadcasters, sponsors and supporters.

Ticket demand tells another part of the story

Matchday revenue contributed £75.1 million in 2024/25, accounting for roughly 10.8% of Manchester City’s total revenue. While that is significantly smaller than the club’s commercial and broadcasting income, it is also one of the clearest indicators of how attractive the football product is to supporters.

Primary sales provide one measure of popularity: how quickly does a club sell its available inventory?

But another layer of demand exists after those tickets have been allocated: the resale market.

How many supporters are still looking for tickets and are interested in the football club?

TicketSeal, a football ticket search engine that aggregates tickets and guides supporters through the different ways to purchase tickets, pointed out that changes in resale prices can reveal shifts in the underlying demand for a club’s matches. Manchester City’s resale market has been relatively stable in recent seasons, but relegation could alter that picture. West Ham United provides a recent example: Championship tickets have generally become easier to obtain through primary sales, reducing the need for supporters to rely on resale channels. With fewer marquee fixtures on the calendar, resale demand has softened compared with the previous Premier League season.

That is commercially intuitive.

A match against Arsenal, Liverpool or Manchester United creates a different level of demand from the average Championship fixture. The same applies even more strongly to Champions League matches.

Remove those opponents from the calendar and the scarcity around tickets can fall with them.

West Ham shows how the product changes

West Ham’s recent experience demonstrates how quickly relegation can reshape the commercial proposition.

After being relegated at the end of 2025/26, the club acknowledged the disappointment of dropping out of the Premier League and subsequently reopened its season-ticket proposition for the Championship campaign. 

Its underlying finances were already under pressure. West Ham reported £227.6 million in turnover for 2024/25, down £42.1 million, and a £104.2 million pre-tax loss. The club attributed the revenue decline partly to the absence of European football, a lower Premier League finish and fewer televised games. Which illustrates how reduced sporting visibility can quickly translate into lower commercial value.

More than a sporting punishment

Relegation would be one of the most severe sanctions Manchester City could face, not only from a sporting perspective but commercially as well.

The financial impact would not come from one single revenue loss. Broadcasting income could fall, Champions League-related revenue and exposure could drop sharply, sponsorship negotiations could become more difficult, and matchday demand could soften as the club loses access to some of football’s most commercially attractive fixtures.

At the same time, Manchester City would still be carrying much of the infrastructure and cost base of an elite European football organisation.