In this age of PSR, FSR and other confusing financial acronyms, every penny counts for Premier League clubs.
That is why, although there may not appear to be much difference between coming 14th and 15th in the table, each finishing position matters a great deal.
Aside from the obvious — winning the title, avoiding relegation, qualifying for Europe — there are millions at stake per place in the Premier League so getting that all-important final result on Sunday could be crucial as clubs look ahead to the transfer window and try to avoid those pesky points deductions.
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Heading into the final round of fixtures, Liverpool (third), Aston Villa (fourth), West Ham United (ninth) and Sheffield United (20th) are the only teams whose final position is guaranteed.
So, with plenty still to play for other than pride on Sunday, The Athletic breaks down how much each position is likely to be worth.
How much do clubs earn in general?
The Premier League distributes hundreds of millions of pounds to teams as part of its club revenue distribution. A certain amount of that is fixed, with clubs earning an ‘equal share’ of the league’s income from its domestic and international broadcast deals.
The Premier League does not release these figures until after the season has finished. For the 2021-22 season, this came on July 1, 2022 but for last season, they were not published until February of this year. Using last year’s data, we can estimate what clubs can expect to receive for the 2023-24 season.
In 2022-23, each team’s equal share worked out at £31.2million ($39.1m) for the UK broadcast deal and £48m for the international agreement. Each team also banks £9.4m for their cut of the commercial payments. That means clubs were guaranteed £88.6million, regardless of where they finished.
That number increases with each time a club is picked for a televised fixture in the UK — where not all games are able to be shown live due to the 3pm blackout rule — which is known as a ‘facility fee’. This does not correlate to a team’s final position in the table — for example, 17th-placed Everton (£19.4m) earned more in facility fees than fifth-placed Brighton & Hove Albion (£14.4m) as they were on TV in the UK more times (22 vs 16). Perhaps unsurprisingly, champions Manchester City were shown live on TV in the UK the most (29 times, £33.8m), while 15th-placed Bournemouth were shown the least (11 times, £10.2m).
GO DEEPERThe Premier League's invisible gamesHow much is each position worth?
Again, based on last season’s figures, we can roughly estimate what clubs can expect to earn from their ‘merit payment’ — their financial reward for their finishing position in the league table.
It is, though, important to note that, although the league’s broadcast deals have not changed from this season to last, this calculation is not definitive and there are factors — such as inflation, fluctuating operating costs and parachute payments — that are likely to slightly impact the final figures.
Premier League clubs can expect to earn approximately £1.7million per place for their UK merit payment and just over £1.4million for the international merit payment, totalling £3.1million.
Premier League merit payment estimations
| POS | Team | Estimated UK merit | Estimated int. merit | Estimated total merit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Manchester City | £33.8m | £28.5m | £62.3m |
2 | Arsenal | £32.1m | £27.0m | £59.1m |
3 | Liverpool | £30.4m | £25.6m | £56.0m |
4 | Aston Villa | £28.7m | £24.2m | £52.9m |
5 | Tottenham | £27.1m | £22.8m | £49.9m |
6 | Chelsea | £25.4m | £21.3m | £46.7m |
7 | Newcastle United | £23.7m | £19.9m | £43.6m |
8 | Manchester United | £22.0m | £18.5m | £40.5m |
9 | West Ham | £20.3m | £17.1m | £37.4m |
10 | Brighton | £18.6m | £15.7m | £34.3m |
11 | Bournemouth | £16.9m | £14.2m | £31.1m |
12 | Crystal Palace | £15.2m | £12.8m | £28m |
13 | Wolves | £13.5m | £11.4m | £24.9m |
14 | Fulham | £11.8m | £10.0m | £21.8m |
15 | Everton | £10.1m | £8.5m | £18.6m |
16 | Brentford | £8.5m | £7.1m | £15.6m |
17 | Nottingham Forest | £6.8m | £5.7m | £12.5m |
18 | Luton Town | £5.1m | £4.3m | £9.4m |
19 | Burnley | £3.4m | £2.8m | £6.2m |
20 | Sheffield United | £1.7m | £1.4m | £3.1m |
How does this compare to previous years?
The Premier League merit payments are significantly up compared to the 2021-22 season, which saw clubs earn just over £2m for their combined merit payments.
The main driving force behind the increase is the latest international broadcast deal the Premier League signed, which began in the 2022-23 season and runs until the end of the 2024-25 campaign.
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From 2019 to 2022, the international deal was worth £4bn, with the domestic agreement coming in at £5bn.
But with the latest £5.05bn international deal, the domestic agreement is lower for the first time. That is set to change, though, at the end of next season with the Premier League agreeing a £6.7bn domestic broadcasting deal which will run from the start of the 2025-26 campaign and run through to 2028-29.
PL Merit Payments for 2021-22
| POS | Team | UK Merit | International Merit | Total Merit | Increase to 22-23 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | £33,779,160 | £7,365,240 | £41,144,400 | £33,333,333 | |
2 | £32,090,202 | £6,996,978 | £39,087,180 | £31,666,667 | |
3 | £30,401,244 | £6,628,716 | £37,029,960 | £30,000,000 | |
4 | £28,712,286 | £6,260,454 | £34,972,740 | £28,333,333 | |
5 | £27,023,328 | £5,892,192 | £32,915,520 | £26,666,667 | |
6 | £25,334,370 | £5,523,930 | £30,858,300 | £25,000,000 | |
7 | £23,645,412 | £5,155,668 | £28,801,080 | £23,333,333 | |
8 | £21,956,454 | £4,787,406 | £26,743,860 | £21,666,667 | |
9 | £20,267,496 | £4,419,144 | £24,686,640 | £20,000,000 | |
10 | £18,578,538 | £4,050,882 | £22,629,420 | £18,333,333 | |
11 | £16,889,580 | £3,682,620 | £20,572,200 | £16,666,667 | |
12 | £15,200,622 | £3,314,358 | £18,514,980 | £15,000,000 | |
13 | £13,511,664 | £2,946,096 | £16,457,760 | £13,333,333 | |
14 | £11,822,706 | £2,577,834 | £14,400,540 | £11,666,667 | |
15 | £10,133,748 | £2,209,572 | £12,343,320 | £10,000,000 | |
16 | £8,444,790 | £1,841,310 | £10,286,100 | £8,333,333 | |
17 | £6,755,832 | £1,473,048 | £8,228,880 | £6,666,667 | |
18 | Burnley | £5,066,874 | £1,104,786 | £6,171,660 | £5,000,000 |
19 | Watford | £3,377,916 | £736,524 | £4,114,440 | £3,333,333 |
20 | Norwich | £1,688,958 | £368,262 | £2,057,220 | £1,666,667 |
Premier League final day – all you need to know
- Premier League title permuations
- European qualification permutations
(Top photo: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
Luke Bosher is a deputy news editor for The Athletic, based in London. He joined the company in 2020. Follow Luke on Twitter @bosherL
