The bells of joy at Anfield won’t stop ringing anytime soon after Liverpool won the Champions League final against Tottenham to lift their first silverware in seven long years.
It was a much deserved victory for the red side of Merseyside on the field. But even off it, the club has made huge strides after new calculations show that Liverpool have now earned an unprecedented quarter of a billion pounds in television revenue alone!
The nitty-gritties of the television revenue stream
The EPL is one of the world’s most televised sport leagues in the whole world and is the most televised football league in the whole world.
Individual teams earn ‘air time’ based on the number of matches they play and the popularity of the team. The more popular a team is, the more ‘ air time’ the team hogs. This directly translates to more revenue for the team.
The broadcast income for clubs is generated in three parts. 50% is shared between the 20 clubs equally, 25% in facility fees and 25% in merit payments which depend upon where a club finish in the league table.
Reds create financial history
An exhaustive financial report by Twitter user Swiss Ramble details the revenue earned by English Clubs in the last season.
A huge chunk of Liverpool’s revenue comprises the Champions League prize money: a princely 98 million pounds.
Liverpool had more matches broadcasted live( 29 vs 26) than league winners Manchester City which meant that their facility fees outweighed the merit fees.
This means that Liverpool have amassed a sum of approximately 251 million pounds from both Premier League and Europe.
This is the first time in history that a club earned this much from TV revenue alone. Check out the graphic below –
3 more English clubs breach the 200 million pound mark
The report concluded that while English football is undeniably one of the wealthiest, qualifying for European Championships pays greater dividends. The gap between the topmost clubs and the rest of the league has begun to widen further. It is quite simple, there is more money to be earned by playing more matches at higher levels!
Notably, 3 more English clubs have breached the 200 million pound mark in television revenue.
Tottenham Hotspur has earned £235 million, Manchester City £233 million and Manchester United completing the roundup with £225 million.
Chelsea and Arsenal faced off against each other in the Europa League finals. They netted a cool £185 million and £174 million respectively.
The closest competitor to these top clubs is Everton with £129 million in TV revenue. This speaks volumes of the existing gap between the elite and the ordinary.
