England's top four clubs in the Premier League are in a financial league of their own and earned at least £14million more than fifth-place Tottenham from television cash and prize money in the 2006-07 season.
Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and to a lesser extent Arsenal all cashed in on making it to the knockout rounds of the Champions League. And even with £2.2billion flooding into the Premier League from a new television deal, which will mean every club in the top flight benefiting by at least an extra £12million, the Champions League will still separate the 'have-lots' from the 'have-less'.
Tom Cannon, dean of Buckingham University Business School and an expert in sport business, said: "The percentage difference might reduce because there's so much money going into the Premier League but the absolute difference won't reduce - in fact it might increase." He added: "A reasonable run in the Champions League is worth about £30million and a comparable run in the UEFA Cup run is probably worth £5million."
The Glazer family, United's American owners, will be delighted to see the club re-establish themselves as top of the money league with a total of £62.92million - and that figure does not include gate money from Old Trafford, merchandise sales or income from club sponsorship deals. Chelsea also broke the £60million mark while Liverpool's run to the Champions League final will see them bring in at least £54.7million - with a further £2million should they beat AC Milan in next week's final in Athens.
Arsenal's failure to reach the quarter-finals of Europe's top club competition cost them several millions - but their total figure of £44.14million was still £14million more than north London rivals Spurs, who had a total of £30.55million and with UEFA Cup earnings more than £11million less than the Gunners' from Europe.
Relegated Watford were the Premiership's lowest earners, bringing in £17.98million.
iceFatboy
well, the rich get richer..
allentyb
true...... fans are going to suffer more, with the increasing of tickets
used
the next thing you know, espn are going to further increase their prices
stellazio
Originally posted by used:
the next thing you know, espn are going to further increase their prices
we already kniw this.there're "talks" undergoing already.