By Paul Nicholson
May 23 – The difference between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ in English football was emphasised again by the release by the Premier League of their broadcast payments to clubs for the 2012/13 season just finished. Even within the Premier League, the payments to clubs show a huge gap with Manchester United at the top earning 34% more than bottom placed QPR.
Winning is everything, and in the Premier League there is not much love or help for the loser. Manchester United’s merit payment for winning the championship is £15.1 million, compared to just £750,000 for QPR.
But there does seem to be reward for attractive football and the TV payments table does not exactly match how the clubs finished the season. For example, both North London clubs, Arsenal and Spurs, finished above west London rivals Chelsea in the TV payments table, but below them in the actual league.
The difference is primarily due to facility payments each time a club airs live on TV. Arsenal and Spurs matches were aired live 22 and 21 times respectively. In comparison Chelsea were live just 16 times. Manchester United were live 25 times.
Eight of the bottom 10 clubs in the league had matches aired live just 10 times.
The Founder Members’ Agreement of the Premier League rules that 50% of UK broadcast revenue is split equally between the 20 clubs, 25% is paid in Merit Payments (depending on where a club finishes in the final League table), and the final 25% is paid in Facility Fees each time a club’s matches are on TV in the UK. All international broadcast revenue is split equally amongst the 20 clubs.
The parachute payments made to relegated clubs were not enough to save Portsmouth from another relegation season – Pompey will not receive any further . But they did help Hull bounce back up to the Premier League.
The 2012/13 season was the last of a three-year broadcast deal cycle. It was also a bad season to be relegated, in financial terms. The new broadcast deals beginning next season will earn clubs, collectively, an additional £500 million a year. For clubs they can expect about a 40% increase on their last payment if they roughly perform in the same way as the season just finished.
The breakdown of payments made to the clubs is below.
TEAM EQUAL SHARE FACILITY FEES MERIT PAYMENT OVERSEAS TV TOTAL PAYMENT
Man Utd 13,803,038 12,961,611 15,117,620 18,931,726 60,813,999
Man City 13,803,038 11,047,387 14,361,739 18,931,726 58,143,890
Arsenal 13,803,038 11,525,944 12,849,977 18,931,726 57,110,685
Tottenham 13,803,038 11,047,387 12,094,096 18,931,726 55,876,247
Chelsea 13,803,038 8,654,602 13,605,858 18,931,726 54,995,224
Liverpool 13,803,038 11,525,944 10,582,334 18,931,726 54,843,042
Everton 13,803,038 7,697,488 11,338,215 18,931,726 51,770,467
West Ham 13,803,038 7,697,488 8,314,691 18,931,726 48,746,943
W Brom 13,803,038 5,783,265 9,826,453 18,931,726 48,344,477
Swansea 13,803,038 5,783,260 9,070,572 18,931,726 47,588,596
Norwich 13,803,038 5,783,260 7,558,810 18,931,726 46,076,834
Fulham 13,803,038 5,783,260 6,802,929 18,931,726 45,320,953
Newcastle 13,803,038 8,654,602 3,779,405 18,931,726 45,168,771
Stoke 13,803,038 5,783,260 6,047,048 18,931,726 44,565,072
Aston Villa 13,803,038 7,697,488 4,535,286 18,931,726 44,967,538
S’hampton 13,803,038 5,783,260 5,291,167 18,931,726 43,809,191
S’derland 13,803,038 7,697,488 3,023,524 18,931,726 43,455,776
Wigan Ath 13,803,038 5,783,260 2,267,643 18,931,726 40,785,667
Reading 13,803,038 5,783,260 1,511,762 18,931,726 40,029,786
QPR 13,803,038 6,261,817 755,881 18,931,726 39,752,462
Parachute payments
Birmingham City 12,301,644
Blackburn Rovers 15,575,120
Blackpool 12,301,644
Bolton Wanderers 15,575,120
Burnley 5,754,692
Hull City 5,754,692
Portsmouth 5,754,692
Wolves 15,575,120
Source: Premier League
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