Premier League footballers earned $3.7bn last season
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The reading
Football players in the UK's Premier League clubs were paid over $3.7 billion last season. An annual report on football finances showed a 15 per cent increase in revenue for the League's 20 clubs. The report is from the international accountancy company Deloitte. It reported that the wage bill for Premier League teams went above $3.5 billion for the first time ever. The report said that almost 60 per cent of all the revenue earned by the League goes towards wages. This is up from 55 per cent in the 2016/17 season. The Premier League's top six clubs, which include Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal, have the highest wage bills in the League.
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The Premier League is the top level of English football leagues. It is the most-watched sports league in the world. People in 212 countries and territories, in 643 million homes worldwide watch it. This means it makes a lot of money from television rights and merchandising. However, the increase in the wage bill has reduced the profits earned by the clubs. Deloitte said: "With the emphasis now on clubs to generate revenue growth...it may be that we see the levels of pre-tax profit [go down] over the next few years." The teams in the lower half of the League are finding it more difficult to make a profit. The bottom three teams can lose up to $130 million if they are relegated from the Premier League.
Sources:
- https://news.sky.com/story/premier-league-clubs-wage-bill-almost-3bn-last-season-11702927
- https://www.ft.com/content/d0855c6c-668f-11e9-9adc-98bf1d35a056
- https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league-money-rising-wages-sees-gap-widen-between-big-six-and-the-rest-a4125491.html
