Arsenal earned more than £100m last season for the first time.PHOTO/courtesy.
LONDON, United Kingdom, May 25 – Arsenal were the biggest earners from the Premier League last season, according to official figures released on Tuesday.
Arsene Wenger’s side missed the opportunity to secure their first title since 2004 and finished second to rank outsiders Leicester, but their haul of Sh14.9 billion (£100,952,257) made them the first club in history to receive more than Sh14.7 billion (£100m) from the Premier League.
Leicester’s fairy tale campaign saw them finish 10 points clear at the top of the table but the new champions earned less than all the other top five clubs, with Tottenham, Manchester City and Manchester United also all earning more money that the Foxes.
Claudio Ranieri’s side earned Sh13.7 billion (£93,219,598), including just over Sh3.6 billion (£24.8m) in prize money for winning the title, but almost £9m less than Arsenal in “facility fees” as only 15 of their matches featured live on television, 12 fewer than the Gunners.
Leicester’s total, however, amounts to Sh3.2billion (£21.6m) more than they earned for the 2014-15 season when they finished 14th.
Tottenham also pipped the champions, earning a total of Sh14 billion (£95,222,320), although their final-day capitulation to Arsenal cost them an extra Sh176.6 million (£1.2m) they would have made for coming second.
Manchester City earned just under Sh14.3 (£97m) and Manchester United only slightly less with a little over Sh14.2 billion (£96.4m). Bottom-placed Aston Villa still took Sh9.7 billion (£66.6m).
The rules of the 2015-16 season mean that 50 per cent of UK broadcast revenue was split equally, ensuring the 20 clubs banked Sh4.4 billion (£21.9m) each.
Overseas television revenue and central commercial revenue were also divided across the teams, paying out another Sh4.3 billion (£29.4m) and Sh662 million (£4.5m) respectively to every top-flight club.
Teams then received different ‘merit payments’ depending on their placing – spanning from Sh3.7 billion (£24,848,100) for Leicester to Sh182.9 million (£1,242,405) for Villa – and ‘facility fees’, which is dictated by the number of times they appeared live on television.
Leicester are also predicted to pick up an extra Sh7.3 billion (£50m) from playing in the Champions League next season.
