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Sport and talent

Sports league financial model, built free.

A three-statement Excel model for a sports league or event rights owner, built from your own figures and checked to balance.

  • Free account
  • No card
  • Usually ready within the hour

We use generative AI in parts of our process, so mistakes can occur. Every model should be checked by a person before it is relied on. Read more

The business

Owns a league, tournament or race series, selling media rights in multi-year cycles plus sponsorship, hosting and licensing rights, staging the competition, and distributing much of the income to clubs, players or prize money.

See the sampleHow the model works

In short

  • 01

    Three linked statements

    Income statement, balance sheet and cash flow, linked in every period.

  • 02

    Valued two ways

    Discounted cash flow and trading multiples, side by side.

  • 03

    Monthly to annual

    Monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or annual periods, for up to 30 years.

  • 04

    Checked every period

    A Checks sheet shows the balance sheet balances and the cash reconciles.

The sample

The sample, as Excel draws it.

Built by the same system and checks as yours, on illustrative figures: every sheet as Excel draws it, or live.

Annual · 10 years · Low detail
Sports league sample model.xlsx
The Summary sheet of the sample sports league model

Illustrative figures: the sample describes no real business. The live preview shows values; your model’s Excel file has every formula.

How it works

How the model works for a sports league.

  1. How it earns revenue3 formulas
    Event revenue and direct costs · All live events
    Event revenueTicket revenueAncillary revenue
    Event revenue and direct costs · All live events
    Event direct costsArtist feesProductionVenue hireMarketingVariable costs
    Event revenue and direct costs · All live events
    Tickets soldCapacity offeredSell-through (tickets sold ÷ capacity)
  2. What drives its costs3 formulas
    Distributions to clubs, players and prize money · All competitions
    Revenue the pool is based onMedia rights revenuefrom media rightsHosting feesfrom sponsorship, hosting and licensing
    Distributions to clubs, players and prize money · All competitions
    Distributions to clubsEqual shareMerit paymentsFacility fees
    Competition operating costs · All competitions
    Matches playedMatches per seasonShare of the season's matches in the period
  3. What it invests in3 formulas
    Corporate fixed assets
    Capital expenditureRevenuefrom statementsCapex as % of revenueAdditional planned capex
    Corporate fixed assets
    DepreciationDepreciation of the opening asset baseDepreciation of new capex
    Corporate fixed assets
    Closing net book valueOpening net book valueCapital expenditureDepreciation
  4. How it is funded3 formulas
    Debt
    RepaymentsScheduled repaymentsPrepayments from an equity raise and the cash sweep
    Debt
    Closing balanceOpening balanceDrawdownsRepayments
    Debt
    Interest expenseOpening balanceAll-in interest rateshare of the year
  5. How profit becomes cash3 formulas
    Working capital
    Trade receivablesRevenuefrom statementsDebtor daysDays in period
    Working capital
    InventoryDirect costs (positive)from statementsInventory daysDays in period
    Working capital
    Trade payablesCash operating costs (positive)from statementsCreditor daysDays in period
What it covers

18 parts, each one tested.

Every part is a tested building block with its own checks: yours is put together from the ones your business needs.

  • CPI forecastConsensus curve with long-run anchor
  • Exchange rate (US dollar)Exchange rate by financial year
  • Operating expensesHeadcount build by function
  • Corporate costsFixed cost base indexed to CPI
  • Working capitalFull working capital
  • Income taxCorporate rate with tax losses
  • Corporate fixed assetsStraight-line over remaining life
  • DebtAmortising term loan
  • Equity raisingDistribution reinvestment plan
  • Dividends and distributionsPayout of net profit
  • Discounted cash flow valuationDCF on free cash flow to the firm
  • Multiples valuationEV / EBITDA multiple
  • Customer deposits, deferred revenue and loyaltyDeferred revenue as days of revenue
  • Event revenue and direct costsCapacity × sell-through × ticket price
  • Media rightsRights contracts by cycleBroadcast and streaming rights sold in multi-year cycles, recognised as matches or events are delivered.
  • Sponsorship, hosting and licensingHosting feesTitle and official partnerships, hosting fees from venues and cities, licensing royalties and wagering fees.
  • Distributions to clubs, players and prize moneyRevenue pool formulaWhat the rights owner pays out of central income to member clubs, players and competitors.
  • Competition operating costsCost per matchCosts of staging the competition — officials, integrity, match operations, travel and host broadcast production.
Key numbers

The numbers it tracks.

  1. 01media rights per season
  2. 02rights uplift at renewal
  3. 03commercial revenue
  4. 04distributions to clubs
  5. 05prize money
  6. 06retained surplus
  7. 07EBITDA
Used for

What it is used for.

Also used for
  • Scenarios and sensitivities
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Every media, sport and entertainment model

Looking for a sports league financial model template? Ours arrives built for your business, with your figures in it.

See a finished model, sheet by sheet

The sample is built on illustrative figures and describes no real business. Models are calculations prepared from the information you provide. They are not financial advice and must be independently verified. See our terms.