Exeter Employ More Staff Than Anyone in the League, and Still Lost Money

In the 2024-25 season covered by these accounts, Exeter Chiefs endured an unusually difficult campaign by their own recent standards, finishing 9th in the Premiership with 29 points from 18 games. They reached the Premiership Rugby Cup final in March but were beaten comfortably by Bath at Sandy Park, their own ground, before a mid-table European campaign that saw them drop out of the Champions Cup pool stage.

The accounts show turnover of around £20m, healthy for a mid-table club, alongside a pre-tax loss of close to £3m. What stands out is the workforce: 332 employees, comfortably the largest headcount of any club in this dataset, some way above rivals fielding similar-sized playing squads. That gap points to Sandy Park's wider leisure and hospitality operation, the hotel, spa and conferencing business built around the stadium, rather than the rugby department alone.

Staff costs of roughly £14m and net assets of around minus £14m sit comfortably within Premiership norms, but a loss in a season without a trophy or a top-half finish will sting more than in years when Exeter were regularly reaching finals. There is no obvious marquee signing driving the numbers here; this is a club whose financial story is shaped as much by its diversified business model as by its playing budget.

Cash reserves were modest, around half a million pounds, leaving little cushion if the on-field slump continues into the following season.

Turnover vs staff costs, FY2024-25