The Championship play-off final is known as “the richest game of football” – and with good reason.
Not only does the winner guarantee themselves a place in the Premier League, but they also stand to make an absolute fortune too, even in an economy bludgeoned by Covid-19.
Brentford looked to have blown their Premier League chances twice last year, first by relinquishing an automatic spot and then by losing in the play-off final to Fulham.
However, after christening their new Community Stadium in the second tier, they are once again back in the play-off final with this time Swansea standing between them and first return to the top flight since the 1940s.
Swansea of course spent seven years in the Premier League from 2011 before they were relegated under Carlos Carvalhal in 2018. Beating Brentford would not only reverse that but also avenge their semi-final defeat to the Bees in 2020’s play-offs.
How much is the Championship play-off final worth?
The Premier League earned approximately £9.3bn from domestic and overseas broadcasting revenue for the three-year cycle starting in 2019-20 and ending in 2021-22 – and that deal has been carried over to the next three years of football.
Each Premier League club gets a healthy slice of that revenue pie worth approximately £100m per club, significantly more than what is on offer in the Championship.
“To be part of that [the Premier League broadcast deal] compared to the EFL deal which is worth around about £7m per year for a non-parachute club is critical,” football finance expert and lecturer at the University of Liverpool Kieran Maguire tells i. “We’re looking at about £100m for a club that is going to be bottom three or four in terms of televised matches.”
On top of broadcast revenue, promoted clubs are also guaranteed a minimum of two years worth of parachute payments which equates to around £70m, hence the “£170m match” tag for the play-off final. Promotion would be even more lucrative for Brentford as they have not been in receipt of parachute payments having never been in the Premier League.
Swansea themselves have only just finished receiving their parachute payments, worth around £90m in total, from their relegation in 2019, because for promoted clubs who survive their first campaign in the Premier League like Sheffield United and Aston Villa in 2019-20, there is a further safety net in place.
“By staying in the Premier League, it automatically gives you a third year of parachute payments should you come down next season, so there’s that benefit,” says Maguire. “For Villa to maintain their position they get the Premier League deal, they get the sponsorship deals and the chance to keep Jack Grealish.”
Of course Villa did not go down the year after, but for investors it is a welcome safety net.
Promoted clubs also see a hike in sponsorship income, either through bonuses from existing sponsors or through lucrative deals with new investors. Leeds United announced a “record-breaking” five-year deal with Adidas shortly after being confirmed as Championship champions in 2020.
Supporters have only just begun to be allowed back in stadiums at a vastly reduced capacity. Clubs have and will continue to suffer from a loss of matchday revenue with limited attendance in the stands, but as Maguire explains to i, that will barely impact those in the top-flight.
“TV and sponsorship money will, to some extent, more than mitigate for the loss of matchday income which for many clubs in the Premier League is their smallest revenue earner overall,” he says.
“If you look at the Championship, there are clubs such as Sheffield Wednesday where matchday income is 40 per cent of their total so, therefore, they’re going to be hit more.”
Getting into the Premier League is one thing but staying there and maximising earning potential is another. As Maguire tells i: “If you drop out of the Premier League into the Championship, you’re jumping off a cliff financially.”
All things considered then, even in these potentially bleak financial times, the Championship play-off final remains the most lucrative in the game.
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from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3k7EAPU
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