Chelsea have guaranteed the biggest-ever TV cash pay-out from the Champions League after beating Barcelona to make the final.
The Stamford Bridge club will earn at least STG45 million ($A70.72 million) with a further 2.8m to come if they win the trophy.
The money is UEFA’s payments of TV cash alone and studies have shown the clubs can double that income from ticket sales, sponsorship and merchandise. Manchester United had previously held the record pay-out of CL television cash at STG43.5 million ($A68.36 million) last season, but this year earned only 28m as a result of failing to qualify for the knockout stages.
Arsenal’s earnings were STG22.7 million ($A35.67 million) this year – STG2 million ($A3.14 million) less than the previous season – while Manchester City’s STG21.3 million ($A33.47 million) show the difference with the Europa League where last season they earned just STG4.5 million ($A7.07 million).
If Chelsea do triumph in the final and finish outside of the top four in the Premier League, they will take the place of the fourth-placed team – currently Newcastle – in next season’s Champions League.
That would be a huge financial boost to the Roman Abramovich-owned team, and a major blow of at least STG20 million ($A31.43 million) to whoever misses out.
The four English clubs have been top of the Champions League payments for years due to the size of the TV deals paid by Sky and ITV, and collectively earned a total of STG130 million ($A204.29 million) in television money from the competition this season – but STG13 million ($A20.43 million) less than last season due to poorer performances generally.
However Chelsea’s guaranteed 45m compares with 36m last season when they reached the quarter-finals.
UEFA calculate the distribution based on participation and performance bonuses, and half on TV market share.
Each club in the group stage gets a STG3.2 million ($A5.03 million) participation payment plus STG450,000 ($A707,158) for each group match played. A further STG650,000 ($A1.02 million) are paid for each group win or STG325,000 ($A510,725) for a draw.
A place in the round of 16 earns STG2.45 million ($A3.85 million), the quarter-finals STG2.7 million ($A4.24 million), the semis STG3.5 million ($A5.50 million), with STG4.6 million ($A7.23 million) to the losing finalist and STG7.4 million ($A11.63 million) to the winner.
The TV market share depends on the value of each country’s TV deal, and is split among the four English clubs on the basis of how many games they each played in the Champions League.
