Sergey Kushchenko, President of the VTB United League, highlighted key trends in ticket sales revenue, commercial revenue, and government funding.
“I’d like to highlight the clubs’ ticket sales revenue. It has increased to 621 million rubles, a 21 percent increase for the season. Look at the top line: eight out of ten clubs saw growth. Commercial revenue also increased—101 million rubles, a 15 percent rise. However, government funding decreased—1.02 billion rubles, a 10 percent drop. This is the main trend of the season: clubs are earning more on their own and are less dependent on government funding.
Another important point is that League clubs consistently pay taxes. This is a major expense—2.611 billion rubles, a 10 percent increase from last season. One in every four rubles of a club’s expenses goes toward taxes. Professional basketball returns significantly more to regional budgets than it receives from them as government support: 2.6 billion versus 1 billion. And this is good for the clubs, for the League, and for the regions where we operate.
