Where the money went: £150m United pip Man City in PL cash race
By Sportingintelligence
17 May 2018
Manchester City’s stunning and record-breaking Premier League title win in Pep Guardiola’s second season as a manager in England earned them almost £150m in prize cash, with official figures released today showing they have pocketed £149,438,654 from central funds alone.
The money comes primarily from the PL’s huge TV deals but also includes City’s share of the league’s central commercial income. But the way in which the PL cash is distributed means City actually take home less than rivals Manchester United, who earn £149,767,145. United receive more because they had two more live TV games (28 in the UK) than City (26).
Manchester City were the second highest earners, followed by Liverpool (£145,904,609) then Tottenham (£144,446,238).
Liverpool earned more than Tottenham despite finishing lower than Spurs in the table because they had more games shown live on TV in the UK - and more TV games means more money in the payments system.
Chelsea, with £141.7m, and Arsenal, with £142m were the only other club earning more than £140m. The lowest earning club, bottom of the table West Brom, have to settle for ‘only’ £94.7m.
The 20 clubs between them have split a staggering £2.42 BILLION this season, from annual Premier League income that is now more than £3bn a year, the vast majority from TV deals either at home or from overseas.
The money is allocated in various ways, described in more detail below, but first, a summary graphic of who won what, to the nearest pound.
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City’s money was made up of £38,625,360 ‘merit’ cash for finishing top of the table, £30,390,736 in ‘facility fees’ for being shown in 26 live TV games in the UK, plus equal shares of the domestic TV deal, overseas TV deals and commercial income from the league’s sponsors.
Sky and BT Sport are paying £5.136 billion between them to show Premier League matches live in the UK across three seasons from 2016 to 2019 inclusive. Foreign broadcasters around world are paying more than £3 billion combined, on top, for the same period.
The Premier League also earns money from the sales of highlights (on Match of the Day), near-live rights, clip rights, and brings in further sums from commercial deals. All that cash goes into one big pot and the sums announced today are the eye-watering rewards for the clubs.
For 2017-18 every club gets an ‘equal’ share of just over £80.4m derived from domestic TV income, overseas income and commercial income, with specifics in our accompanying table.
Every club then gets another sum depending on league position, worth £1,931,268 per place in the table. This is actually down very slightly on last year for reasons that are not yet clear, although the Premier League has paid out more in ‘parachute’ money (to relegated clubs) this year than 12 months ago.
A year ago parachute payments were £219m split between eight clubs and this time they are almost £243m split between eight clubs. Sunderland, Hull and Middlesbrough each get £41.57m this time while Aston Villa and Norwich (£34m each) and Cardiff, Fulham and QPR (£16.6m) also benefit).
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Payments for 2016-17 / Payments for 2015-16 / Payments for 2014-15 / Payments for 2013-14 /
Payments for 2012-13 / Payments for 2011-12 / Payments for 2010-11 / Payments for 2009-10
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Clubs have three main revenue streams: match day income (from tickets, corporate dining etcetera), media income (of which the payments listed are the largest but not the only part) and commercial income (from kit deals, sponsorship, merchandise, tours and so on).
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The Premier League pay ‘parachute’ payments to clubs relegated in recent seasons. Full details are in the separate graphic below.
Parachutes for 2017-18
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