Just one step away from competing for at least £100 million and even having a long shot at getting into the Champions League odds next season for more cash, Championship clubs still get a decent payout each season.
Of course, Championship prize money is massively different from the earnings of Premier League clubs. The gap seems to continue to widen, but as the league’s profile increases, so does the prize money.
Even so, much of each team’s Championship prize money comes from Premier League solidarity payments. It creates a unique system of winnings in the league that almost circumvents the semblance of merit payments.
How Much Championship Prize Money Does the Winner Get?
The winner of the second tier of English football will land themselves Championship prize money to the sum of around £11 million, plus a relatively slight amount of additional income from a merit payment and facility fees.
Merit payments, which pay teams more prize money for finishing higher in the division, are described as being negligible compared to the basic award amount of £11 million.
On top of these two revenue streams, the top team will likely feature on live TV broadcasts more, earning them more in facility fees than clubs that are lower down the table.
That said, if the Championship winner was also relegated from the Premier League in the last three seasons, they’ll only receive half of the £11 million basic award due to their continued parachute payments income.
Teams that achieve the fastest promotion from the Championship will be among those that are exempt from half of the basic award amount.
How Much Championship Prize Money do Play-off Teams Get?
The culmination of the Championship Play-offs is hailed as the richest game in football, and fans often revere the increase in revenues earned by playing at Wembley Stadium to end the campaign.
However, the element that plays into it being the richest game in football doesn’t pertain to the actual face value of the one game a team could play at Wembley to try and snag the final promotion spot.
The richest game in football almost entirely hinges on next season’s earnings. A team in the top flight is guaranteed at least £100 million in Premier League prize money – some ten times that of the Championship prize money on offer.
That said, there is an additional bump of Championship prize money given to Play-off teams that make good on their football odds and get to the Final. The bump certainly isn’t insignificant as a percentage of the basic award.
Teams that land from 3rd to 6th in the table will get to play at least one game at Wembley and split the gate receipts. A full Wembley Stadium will generate around £2 million in the Play-offs.
As a result, a team that makes it to the Play-offs, wins in the Semi-finals, and then wins the Final could be looking at around £15 million in Championship prize money with the promise of £100 million next season.
How Much is Broadcast Revenue Worth to Championship Clubs?
Broadcast revenue is worth around £6 million to each club in the Championship. This revenue stream is what makes up most of the other half of the Championship prize money.
Roughly one-half is around £5 million in solidarity payments from the Premier League. The final roughly £6 million is powered by broadcast revenue, which saw a bump of a couple of million pounds with the most recent EFL TV deal.
It’s still a big jump up from the leagues below: clubs that achieve the fastest promotion from League One to the Championship will see their broadcast revenues increase multiple times over.
Even so, the base sharing of TV revenue in the Premier League makes Championship prize money in its entirety look like a mere drop in the ocean.
