Bank Holiday Monday promises to be pay day for either Huddersfield Town or Reading, as the two football clubs battle it out in the play-off for promotion to the Premier League, with analysis from Deloitte suggesting the winner will score an additional £170m in revenue, rising to more than £290m if they survive their first season
Dan Jones, partner and head of the sports business group at Deloitte, said: ‘Wembley’s winner-takes-all clash will be a fantastic advert for both the Premier League and the Championship. We are one year into the new broadcast rights arrangements and fans of these clubs will be fully aware of the financial reward for playing in the top flight next season.’
Deloitte calculates that the team which tops the championship league can expect a revenue increase of at least £170m across the next three seasons. This is a combination of extra revenue they will earn from playing in the Premier League in 2017/18 (at least an extra £95m, mostly from central distributions) and parachute payments in 2018/19 and 2019/20 should they be relegated after one season (totalling at least £75m across the two seasons).
Reading or Huddersfield, along with Brighton, which is the other team to see promotion, could see this figure rise to at least £290m if either club survives its first season in the Premier League. Over the past 10 seasons to 2016/17, 18 (60%) of the 30 promoted clubs have avoided relegation in their first season in the Premier League.
Newcastle United, who were in receipt of parachute payments in 2016/17, will benefit from a minimum uplift in central distributions of £60m in 2017/18. The higher up the Premier League the club finishes in 2017/18, the higher their revenue will be, with Deloitte calculating each finishing position is worth around £2m. Even if Newcastle are relegated at the end of their first season, the minimum uplift in revenue over the next three seasons will be £120m.
Jones said: ‘The current broadcast rights arrangements provide Premier League clubs with the financial resources to make strategic investments both on and off the pitch.
‘Whilst this typically includes some increased expenditure on playing talent in the short term, it is important that promoted clubs are committed to long-term financial responsibility. Recent history has shown that parachute payments are no guarantee of promotion back to the Premier League if relegation does occur.’
