Exclusive: Inside Liverpool £308m success and ambition to be world's best

Liverpool chief commercial officer speaks exclusively to the ECHO about the club's results and plans for future

Liverpool published their financial results for 2023/24 last month, a period which saw the absence of Champions League football. That was the chief reason for the club’s £57million pre-tax loss.

The losses are always the standout figure, but Liverpool’s could largely be explained away by a season without a seat at the table of European football’s elite knockout club competition. The outlook for the current 2024/25 financial year will be far healthier for the Reds thanks to this season’s competitive success at home and abroad.

While there were losses for 2023/24, total revenue increased from £593.8million in 2022/23, to £613.8million for 2023/24, a rise of £19.9million (3%). Matchday revenue, up £22million to £101million thanks to the completion of the Anfield Road redevelopment that increased capacity to 61,000, was the main driver, but there was further growth from a part of the business that has continued to perform strongly in recent years and been a huge contributor to the club’s business and ability to invest in the product on the pitch.

Commercial revenue for 2023/24 stood at record levels of £308.4million, up 13% year on year from £272.5million in the previous 12-month period. New deals were inked during the period up to the end of May 2024 with global brands such as UPS, Google Pixel, Peloton and Orion Innovation.

The 2023/24 period was the first time that the club’s commercial income had outpaced that of Manchester United, which stood at £303million, placing the Reds second in the Premier League when it comes to how much revenue is derived from commercial activity.

The gap with Manchester City also narrowed from £68million in 2023 to £37million in 2024, a sign of just how much work has been done on the commercial side of the business, something that has seen 165% growth since 2015, higher than both Manchester City (99%) and Manchester United (54%). Only Tottenham Hotspur have outpaced the Reds in the last 10 years, and that is due to the completion of the game-changing stadium they moved into in 2019 that supercharged revenues across the board, although commercial revenue still lags Liverpool by £52million.

Liverpool have had on-field success during that period, but so too have others. So what is it that has been the bedrock of their success when it comes to making the club and its brand so appealing to commercial partners?

“It’s been largely down to the two big drivers within commercial revenue, which are obviously partnerships and merchandise,” said Liverpool chief commercial officer Ben Latty, speaking exclusively to the ECHO.

“From a merchandise perspective we had a very successful year in terms of when the accounts were released from last season, in terms of the kit sales and also our monobranded product as well.

“I think from a partnership's perspective, the period the accounts covered, we had new new partners in UPS, Peloton, Google, Orion. That's a really high level calibre of partner. It’s a real focus for us that we partner with the right companies. We've just got great people that believe in the strategy.

“I have said this before but I want Liverpool to be the most impactful partnerships platform in sports and entertainment. That's what we're working towards.

“This season already we've seven partners as it relates to Japan Airlines, Husqvarna, STRAUSS, Ladbrokes, Lucozade, Visit Maldives and a retail collaboration with 1PointFive. We’re also moving to Adidas as a kit manufacturer from the start of next season.

“It's no coincidence. We've got a really good team of good people that are working towards the vision that we set. We’ve got a leading role in the sports marketing industry and that's down to everything that we have, whether it's our reach, our audience, the values that we stand for or the talented team that activate the partners around the world.

“I am going to be biased but I don't believe there's another club out there that can offer what we offer, and I really don't mean that in an arrogant way. I just think we are very fortunate in terms of what we have here as a commercial platform for partners to activate. I think you see that in the results of our partners renewing as well.”

In addition to new partners, recent years have seen major extensions to commercial partnerships with key partners such as Standard Chartered and AXA, while brands such as Carlsberg are now into a 30th year as a club partner.

It isn’t a case of taking a big cheque for some LED advertising space or shirt and trainingwear space, commercial partners need to see value in what they are spending, and Liverpool’s sponsorship retention points to that being a strong suit of the club.

Said Latty: “It’s worth remembering that in this period we've had AXA who have renewed, extended, upgraded and taken the naming rights of AXA Melwood.

“Carlsberg, that’s obviously a long-term contract that they've signed up to as well, which we don't usually talk about the length of contract, but we felt that was one that we should be giving its significance as well and sort of a footballing record as it relates to 30 years.

“We don t take it for granted though, right? This is something that we are living and breathing every day. We're making sure that we're upping our levels for partners, making sure that we are delivering. We have a regular team led by David Paul, and we have regular meetings with our partners, mid-year reviews, quarterly reviews, end of year reviews, tracking progress. It takes time and it takes hard work and graft to make sure that we're delivering for them.

“I think the results that you see are sort of a result of the fact that we've got good people in the right places servicing our partners and delivering for partners. We are edging towards the vision I set out earlier, and that is to be the most impactful partnership platform in sport and entertainment.

“It is an extensive operation for us to service our partners, and so it should be.

“They put their trust and faith in us, they have marketing budgets, they can quite easily go and spend elsewhere, so it is up to us to make sure that we are giving them a return on investment in terms of their investment into the club and delivering on what they set us out to deliver. It's so competitive out there, not only in sports but in marketing in general.”

But how long can the incline continue, and what kind of opportunities can Liverpool tap into to keep the needle moving in the right direction to a point where they achieve their vision and surpass their Premier League and European rivals to take top spot when it comes to commercial income?

Latty believes there is still plenty of road left to travel for the club in that regard.

“I think digital data is going to be key to unlocking other opportunities elsewhere,” said Latty.

“Whether that's direct or whether that's supporting some of the key revenue generating areas of the club currently, it will be important.

“That is such things as making rich data available to our partners to utilise, and for our retail business, making sure that we can get rich data to effectively support our retail and merchandising team as well. That's absolutely one of our key focuses at the moment.

“Orion Innovation coming on board as our digital transformation partner is going to be a big support to achieving that. They're working with us hand in hand as it relates to what our plans are moving forward.

“I truly believe this and I wouldn't be here if I didn't think so, but I think we've only just scratched the surface in terms of what we can do from a commercial revenue perspective if you think about where we were even just five and six years ago.

“In terms of our revenue but also the calibre of the partner. That’s not being disrespectful to partners we had back then but we've really made good progress and I think now further investment into our digital capabilities and growing our data set is only going to support every area of the club, quite frankly, and all of our partners that are associated with the club.”