The 07/08 Premier League season was the first in the new 3-year deal secured by Scudamore and co., one that promises to bring a crazy amount of money into football. While some people think that football is peaking in England, I respectfully disagree – the scramble for football dollars has just begun, with the Premier League product a star-studded attraction.
Just how much money did clubs earn this season, compared to the last? To give you one perspective, Bolton (16th) earned £32m this season, Fulham (17th) £31.3m and Derby (20th) £29.1m. Last season, Manchester United (1) earned £32m, Chelsea (2) earned £30.9m and Arsenal (4th – last season) earned £29m.
The bottom placed team in 07/08 earns more than the 4th placed team from last season – even when you are comparing the least attractive team (Derby) with a team some consider to be the most attractive to watch on TV (Arsenal – they’re not in as much demand as Manchester United, mind you).
Now you know why Sheffield United were throwing such a strop for being relegated. It was never about right or wrong, it was always about the money.
How the money is distributed
The Premier League’s TV broadcasting deals brings in £2.7 billion over three years. Of this, £22.8 million is paid to every Premier League club as part of an equal share of revenue. On top of this, clubs are paid prize-money relative to their final position in the league (Manchester United got £14.4 million, Derby got £720,000) and then earnings from the live matches in which they are featured (Manchester United, with 25 matches, made £12.1 million, while Derby got the guaranteed minimum payment for clubs no-one watches of £5.6m).
The standout factor from this is that there’s so much money to go around that you can’t argue just about financial impoverishment any more. Yes, the gap between the top and bottom has increased, but the sheer amount of money earned by all clubs means that a club like Sunderland, relegation scrappers last season, can now afford £10m players if they can convince them to come on board.
Some more interesting stats:
- Aston Villa will reap £42.3million after finishing in sixth place, compared with the £22.4million they collected in the 2006-07 season.
- Everton, too, have earned a huge improvement, with their fifth place, banking a cheque of £42.1million, compared with £25.3million last year.
- Newcastle United followed Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool into fourth place as the team most shown on live television. The result was that Newcastle earned almost £10million from 20 live screenings.
- Chelsea on the other hand had 18 live matches, bringing them £9.1million.
- Survival for Fulham meant £31.3million. Being the fourth-worst team in the league nets you more money than the 2nd best team earned last season. Jesus…
- Reading, Birmingham City and Derby this season – receive “parachute payments” for the first two seasons outside the top flight to soften their landing in the second tier. These payments are up from almost £6.5million to £11.4million.
The figure of £125million split between payments to the Football League, charities and other good causes in Britain and abroad puts the extraordinary amount of money pumping through English football into context – ten years ago, £125million was the Premier League’s total turnover. The Football League’s share of this is £77.4million, which includes £45.6million-worth of parachute payments, plus another £31.8million in payments to clubs and cash for youth development and community schemes.
Television revenue for 2007-08 season
(2006-07 in brackets)
Manchester United £49.3m (£32m)
Chelsea £45.6m (£30.9m)
Arsenal £47m (£29m)
Liverpool £45.4m (£28.4m)
Everton £42.1m (£25.3m)
Aston Villa £42.3m (£22m)
Blackburn Rovers £40.2m (£22m)
Portsmouth £40.4m (£23m)
Manchester City £39.7m (£21m)
West Ham United £36.8m (£21.1m)
Tottenham Hotspur £36m (£27.3m)
Newcastle United £39.2m (£21.2m)
Middlesbrough £34.2m (£20.5m)
Wigan Athletic £33.4m (£18.4m)
Sunderland £33.6m (£6.5m*)
Bolton Wanderers £32m (£24.6m)
Fulham £31.3m (£20.4m)
Reading £30.6m (£23.6m)
Birmingham City £29.8m (£6.5m*)
Derby County £29.1m (n/a)
Total £815,175,812 (£502,533,570)
* denotes parachute payment for clubs promoted from the Coca-Cola Championship.
[Source: Times Online]
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