Bottom Line Football’s revenues have been increasing consistently and impressively over the past few decades; but it is only recently that revenue growth has stayed ahead of costs, with improved cost discipline being implemented across the game. This improved cost management, combined with continuing broadcast and commercial growth, looks likely to make football clubs increasingly profitable. They are therefore attractive to investors looking for a consistent financial return, as well as those interested in building profile or business opportunities through acquiring a trophy asset football club. In the long run, there is a virtuous circle within football. The more revenues a club can generate, the more it has to invest in talent, increasing the chances of on-pitch success, with the associated financial rewards allowing it to reinvest. This creates an imperative for clubs, and the leagues of which they are a part, to maximize their revenues. More revenue should enable clubs to recruit not just the best talent and coaches on the field, but also the best commercial staff, access to the best technology, and the ability to invest for the long term, for example by investing in youth academies. The more popular football becomes, the more brands will likely want to be associated with it. Europe is currently football’s financial powerbase, with leagues and clubs continuing to explore how to capitalize on their global appeal through a variety of strategies – broadcasting and distribution of content, sponsorship, other commercial partnerships, shareholdings, talent development and matches abroad. It is established practice for top European clubs to play pre-season matches in non-European markets. This trend is likely to increase, and it seems only a matter of time before a European League stages regular season matches outside of the continent, in a similar manner to how the NFL has staged matches in London and the NBA in Europe. As long as imported European content retains popularity, leagues and clubs outside of Europe face the challenge of developing their own competition structures. This challenge should be embraced, with these leagues and clubs building strong governance and administration structures, facilities, youth development and community engagement in their local markets, while leveraging best practice from Europe. Commentators may question whether football’s revenues can continue to grow. We would not expect the 2016/2017 revenue growth rate to continue in 2017/2018: there are no major new broadcast or sponsorship deals likely to start in that period which would generate the same uplift as the new EPL and La Liga deals will do in 2016/2017. But in the long term, prospects look favorable as long as football maintains its ability to remain a spectacle that can attract a large proportion of the population, almost every week of the year, and which plays out not just on our television screens, but also through online news sites on the web, on social networks, on video games, in the back pages of newspapers, over breakfast, in school break times, and indeed in almost every other medium. Technology, Media & Telecommunications Predictions 2016 41