Chelsea’s Premier League title victory in Antonio Conte’s first season as a manager in England earned them almost £151m in prize cash, with official figures released on Wednesday showing they have pocketed £150,811,183 from central funds alone.
The money comes primarily from the PL’s huge TV deals but also includes Chelsea’s share of the league’s central commercial income.
Manchester City were the second highest earners, making £146,927,965, followed by Liverpool (£146,122,439) then Tottenham (£145,461,325).
Chelsea’s Premier League title victory this season under new boss Antonio Conte has earned them almost £151m in prize cash
City and Liverpool both 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.
Manchester United, with £141m, were the only other club earning more than £140m although Arsenal came close on £139.6m. The lowest earning club, bottom of the table Sunderland, had to settle for ‘only’ £93,471,118.
The 20 clubs between them have split a staggering £2.4billion this season, from annual Premier League income that is now approaching £3bn a year, the vast majority from TV deals either at home or from overseas.
Conte’s first season sees Chelsea benefit massively from TV income deals as they finished at the top of the table
The lowest earning club, bottom of the table Sunderland, still earned £93.4m in prizes despite their relegation
Despite finishing second in the Premier League – their highest ever finish – Tottenham were the fourth highest earners
Pep Guardiola’s star power at Manchester City saw them get a cash boost thanks to television, despite their lowly finish
Chelsea’s money was made up of £38,832,180 ‘merit’ cash for finishing top of the table, £32,827,014 in ‘facility fees’ for being shown in 28 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, 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.
Every club got at least £12million from the TV pot – even Watford, who only appeared on television eight times
For 2016-17 every club gets an ‘equal’ share of just over £79m 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 £1,941,609 per place in the table, from that sum for bottom-placed Sunderland to £38,832,180 to Chelsea.
Each club also gets a variable amount depending on how many times they were shown live on Sky or BT. Every club got a minimum of £12,377,522 from this pot, even if they were shown as rarely as Sunderland and Watford (just eight live televised games each), or Stoke (nine times).
Thanks to parachute payments, the Premier League paid £219m to teams not in their division, with Aston Villa leading the way
Liverpool were shown live in the UK most, 29 times (a record for one club in one season), followed by Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City (28 times each), Tottenham and Arsenal (25).
Clubs have three main revenue streams: match day income from the likes of tickets and corporate dining, 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.
The ratio in central earnings between highest earners Chelsea at the top and Sunderland at the bottom in 2016-17 is 1.6135 to one.
Liverpool, who finished fourth, broke the English record for most televised games last season, appearing 29 times
This is less ‘fair’ than last season’s all-time fairest ratio of 1.5153 to one between top and bottom, but the Premier League still remains by far the most equitable league in division of central funds in this regard.
The difference between top and bottom is closer to 8 to 1, while in Italy’s Serie A it is 5 to 1, in France’s Ligue 1 it is about 3.5 to 1, and even in the German Bundesliga it is 2 to 1.
The Premier League pay ‘parachute’ payments to clubs relegated in recent seasons. The three clubs relegated last season – Newcastle, Norwich and Aston Villa – get £41m each this time.