This graph depicts the total worldwide gate revenue earned in sports from 2006 to 2010 and forecasts for the years 2011 to 2015 by region. In 2010, a revenue of 15.71 billion U.S. dollars was generated through gate revenue in North America.

Game day revenue in sports

Revenue from ticket sales (gate receipts) and other game-day related revenue is an important stream of revenue in sports. Next to revenue from broadcasting and media rights deals and the commercial segment (merchandising, sponsorships etc.) gate revenues bring in a large part of revenue in sports. PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates that sports gate revenues were at around 40 billion U.S. dollars in 2012, of which around 39 percent (15.86 billion U.S. dollars) is attributable to the North American sports market.

The Dallas Cowboys, for example, generated 89 million U.S. dollars in revenue from gate receipts (including club seats) in 2012 according to research by Forbes. This constitutes about 16.5 percent of the Dallas Cowboys’ total revenue in 2012. The games of the Dallas Cowboys were attended by a total of 708,249 spectators in 2012, as reported by ESPN. With an average ticket price of 110.20 U.S. dollars, according to Team Marketing Report, this would constitute about 78 million U.S. dollars in revenue from ticket sales. The difference between the two figures can be attributed to differences in the basis of calculation of the average ticket price and whether luxury suites and the likes are included.

In European soccer, the share of the matchday segment of total revenues varies from league to league and club to club. For Manchester United, for example, the matchday segment made up 30.8 percent of total revenue, 145 million U.S. dollars. Over the past four years the share of the matchday segment has decreased every year, down from 41.1 percent in 2009 to the aforementioned 30.8 percent in 2012.