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Liverpool have become the first team in history to earn over a quarter billion (that’s billion with a B) in TV and prize money in a season, after not only winning the Champions League but also collecting the most money from the Premier League. Meanwhile, Chelsea missed out on at least €50m in revenue by being stuck in the Europa League rather than playing with the big boys on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Those are some of the latest findings from the essential and incomparable @SwissRamble, who’s a must-follow on Twitter if you’re at all interested in this side of the professional game (and with ever-greater financial demands placed on the top teams, we all probably need to be interested).
Thread on 2018/19 Champions League and Europa League revenue. Also includes details of the first football club to ever earn more than a quarter of a billion pounds TV income in a single season #LFC #THFC #MUFC #MCFC #CFC #AFC https://t.co/aJ9eUMHHTF
— Swiss Ramble (@SwissRamble) June 3, 2019
That whole thread is worth exploring, certainly, but let us just jump to the summary.
Liverpool earned just a little over £150m from the Premier League’s incomprehensibly massive TV deals, and added almost £100m to that from UEFA as well. There are a number of factors that helped them earned more than all the other English teams including the most live Premier League matches (29 vs. 27 for United, 26 for City and Spurs, 25 for Chelsea and Arsenal) and UEFA adding a variable component to the revenue based on historic coefficient (i.e. more consistently successful teams get more money consistently). The rich always get richer in professional sports.
So #LFC have earned an incredible £251m TV income from the Premier League & Europe – the first time a club has received more than a quarter of a billion pounds from this revenue stream.
— Swiss Ramble (@SwissRamble) June 3, 2019
In fact, 4 English clubs are above £200m, including #THFC £235m, #MCFC £233m & #MUFC £225m. pic.twitter.com/bBiGtr5UFv
The difference in European prize money is staggering. Chelsea earned less than half (€39m) for winning the Europa League than what Manchester United collected (€83m) for getting blown out in the Champions League quarterfinals by Barcelona. In fact, Chelsea earned more last season (€58m) for (also) losing to Barcelona in the first knockout round, even!
With UEFA increasing Champions League revenues by over 50 per cent for this past season (and only increasing Europa League revenues by 40 per cent), Chelsea have missed out on about €50m in revenue by finishing fifth.
Or, on the the more positive flip-side, we earned €50m for finishing in the top four.
So the benefits of qualifying for the Champions League over the Europa League are clear. As it stands, English CL clubs have earned well over twice as much as EL clubs - even though 2 have reached the final:#LFC €107m#THFC €102m#MUFC €93m#MCFC €93m#CFC €40m#AFC €36m pic.twitter.com/r82tADlaaN
— Swiss Ramble (@SwissRamble) May 13, 2019