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By Antonella Ciancio
MILAN, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Germany's Bundesliga is likely to overtake Italy's Serie A as the second richest European league this season, a report said on Wednesday.
The Italian top flight is expected to generate 1.43 billion euros ($2.1 billion) in revenue in the 2008/09 season, second only to England's Premier League, according to a study by the StageUp sport business research firm.
However, the third-placed Bundesliga, just 10 million euros behind the Italian top division in the projection, may surpass Serie A if German clubs succeed in the Champions League.
"The narrow margin between the two leagues may be closed if the German clubs competing in the Champions League achieve better results than the Italian clubs, earning higher UEFA prize money," Italy-based StageUp said in a statement.
Most of the revenue would come from television and sponsorship deals, ticketing, royalties and advertising, the report said.
In Italy, where many stadiums are in need of an overhaul, foreign investors are hesitant to put money into soccer clubs while a row over television rights risks overshadowing the start of the championship this weekend.
Revenues in Serie A are expected to fall by two percent from the previous season.
NAMING RIGHTS
"In order to close the gap on the Premier League and stop the Bundesliga's advance, Italy should invest more in stadiums to boost profits," StageUp president Giovanni Palazzi told Reuters.
"Profits may come from higher attendances in comfortable and safe facilities, as well as from stadium naming rights, which is very much developed in Germany," he added, noting that the Bundesliga had benefited from Germany hosting the World Cup in 2006.
Germany's top division is already the most profitable league in Europe with an operating margin of 18 percent, three times that of the Premier League, a recent report by Deloitte said.
The Bundesliga's good financial performance reflected its ability to keep players' wages under control while it also had the highest average attendances in Europe, almost double those in Italy, the StageUp report showed.
The Premier League continues to power ahead with estimated revenues of about 2.4 billion euros in the 2008/09 season, although player wages tend to consume most of the increase in revenue, according to StageUp.
Spain's Primera Liga comes fourth in terms of revenues because of a disparity between big and small clubs in the system of television rights sales, with only the dominant Real Madrid and Barcelona negotiating on an individual basis.
(Editing by Clare Fallon)
