Antonio Conte’s first season in English football brought Chelsea the Premier League title and earned the champions nearly £151 million in television fees and prize money.
The new, more lucrative Premier League broadcast deal meant that clubs enjoyed much greater revenue. Chelsea received almost £58 million more than Leicester City did for winning the title last season.
Chelsea’s prize money for coming top came to £38.8 million, while “facility fees” for being shown live on TV in 28 of their 38 league games brought in another £32.8 million. An equal share of TV deals, domestically and overseas, plus commercial income contributed about £79.2 million.
Tottenham Hotspur finished second, but are the fourth-highest earners. Manchester City and Liverpool both earned more than Mauricio Pochettino’s side because more of their games were shown live on TV. Liverpool featured the most — with 29 of their matches broadcast.
Manchester United collected more than £141 million, which is £1.5 million more than Arsenal, despite finishing one place behind the north London club in sixth. Although Sunderland finished bottom of the table and were relegated, they received £93 million.
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Facility fees can make a big difference to a club’s final payment, with matches involving the bigger clubs always more attractive to broadcasters. In 2015-16 Arsenal were top earners, getting £7 million more than Leicester, the champions.
Just as there was in the league this season, there is a relatively large gap to Everton in seventh place, with Premier League earnings of almost £128million. There are then small gaps between the next 13 clubs all the way to Sunderland’s reward for propping up the table.
The Premier League paid out nearly £220 million to eight teams in parachute payments — Aston Villa, Cardiff City, Fulham, Newcastle United, Norwich City, QPR, Reading and Wigan Athletic.
The three most recently relegated sides — Villa, Newcastle and Norwich — got almost £41 million each, QPR received £31 million and the other four more than £16 million each.
Overall, the ratio between the highest and the lowest earning clubs in the Premier League was 1.61 to 1, the lowest among Europe’s top leagues. This is one of the league’s core philosophies and main selling points, as it fosters the perception of a fiercely competitive league.
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The Premier League’s undeniable appeal to broadcasters at home and abroad has enabled it to increase the money it distributes to clubs further down the pyramid, as well as on grassroots facilities and projects. In the last financial year, the league spent £200 million in this area, about 7 per cent of its total broadcast income.