The Premier League has been all wrapped up for another season. Chelsea have walked off with the trophy, and Hull, Burnley and QPR have dropped into the oblivion of the Championship. So all that’s left to discuss are the fees.
The distribution of cash across the clubs has now been released for the 2014/15 season. But if you can’t be bothered to wade through all those numbers, we’ve picked out five things you should know.
1. Chelsea have received almost £99 million – the largest central revenue distribution in Premier League history.
A quarter of this cash came from prize money for finishing top of the table this season.
2. The largest amount of money given to each club came from overseas broadcast rights.
The money received by the Premier League for overseas broadcast deals was split equally between all 20 clubs – each receiving over £27.5 million.
3. Man United earned the most from live TV appearances.
Despite only finishing fourth in the league, Man United received the most in “facility fees” (almost £21.5 million) thanks to 27 of their games being broadcast live. Manchester City got the second highest with £20.7 million for their 26 live games.
4. Premier League payments are the most equitable of any major European football league – meaning the losers get a good deal too.
The divvying up of Premier League spoils is based on the Premier League Founder Members Agreement, the contract signed by the first clubs that formed the League in 1992. In 2014/15 this resulted in a top-to-bottom payment ratio of 1.53:1.
In real money terms that means rock-bottom QPR earned almost £64.8 million, which is £34.2 million less than Chelsea (very reasonable, we’re sure you’ll agree).
5. “Parachute payments” are changing – meaning clubs relegated after just one year will miss out on full payments.
The change in the rules means that promoted clubs Bournemouth, Watford and Norwich will miss out on a year of parachute payments if they go straight back down.
The parachute payments system is also changing so that the money – at least £64million – will be distributed to relegated clubs over three years rather than four. Clubs who go back down after a single year in the Premier League will only get the first two years of payments rather than the full three years.
The new rules will not affect the three clubs most recently relegated from the top flight – Hull, QPR and Burnley.
Source: SNAPPA
