LONDON: Mancheter United has topped its peers in earnings from payments of broadcast and central commercial revenues to clubs for the 2017/18 season, official figures released by the Premier League show.
This was despite Manchester City’s record-shattering Premier League title win in Pep Guardiola’s second season as a manager in England. The reason? City’s traditional rivals had two more games telecast live in the UK.
Though both clubs crossed the £149 million mark in central revenues, the fact that United had 28 games shown live as against 26 for City meant that England’s richest club stayed ahead of its “noisy neighbours” despite pulling in almost £2 million less as “merit payment”.
The collective and central way the Premier League markets its rights and distributes revenues to clubs supports them in their efforts to develop and acquire talented players, build and improve stadiums, and make a huge contribution to the entire football pyramid and a range of community programmes and good causes.
The scale of Premier League support and investment in the wider game, and in communities and schools, is unprecedented in the world of professional sport.
The League and its clubs fund community facilities across England and Wales, operate national and local sports participation projects, and last year launched Premier League Primary Stars, a primary-school education programme.
Primary Stars uses the appeal of football to inspire children to learn, be active and develop important life skills through free teaching resources and support from 101 Premier League and other professional football clubs.
The programme aimed to engage 10,000 primary schools by 2019 but has already exceeded that target by reaching 15,000 schools within its first year.
This is part of the £100 million per season the Premier League invests to support the development of community facilities, sports participation programmes and schools.
The Premier League also supports the EFL with £100 million per season of Solidarity Payments and ring-fenced Youth Development grants.
Furthermore, Premier League football generates an estimated £3.3 billion per year in taxes for the UK government.
The League’s central revenues are distributed to clubs in the following manner:
– UK broadcast revenues: 50% equally shared; 25% shared based on how often a club’s matches are broadcast in the UK (known as “Facility Fees”); and 25% shared based on where a club finishes in the league table (known as “Merit Payments”)
– Central Commercial revenues: Equally shared by clubs
– International broadcasting revenues: Equally shared by clubs
