The case
Where the money goes
One season, four directions
The diagram below is built from our dataset and drawn to scale: the width of each ribbon is the amount of money in it. Hover or focus a ribbon for the exact figure, the number of recipients, the per-club amount and the source. Click to pin it.
You will notice the ribbon reaching the National League System is a hairline. We have not exaggerated it, and we have not exaggerated the one at the top either. The real numbers are stark enough, and any distortion would be a gift to people who would rather this argument went away.
| From | To | Amount | Clubs | Per club | Figure from | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK broadcast rights | The Premier League | £1,675,000,000 | 2025-29 cycle | Our estimate | ||
| International rights and commercial revenue | The Premier League | £1,387,500,000 | 2025-29 cycle | Our estimate | ||
| The Premier League | Premier League clubs | £2,529,166,667 | 20 | £126,458,333 | 2025-29 cycle | Our estimate |
| The Premier League | Wider game and communities | £533,333,333 | 2022-2025 | Our estimate | ||
| Wider game and communities | Parachute payments | £233,000,000 | 5 | £46,600,000 | 2020-21 | |
| Wider game and communities | Solidarity payments | £131,364,960 | 67 | 2024-25 | Our estimate | |
| Wider game and communities | National League System, Steps 1 to 6 | £16,000,000 | 996 | £16,064 | 2022 | |
| Wider game and communities | Grassroots, community and other programmes | £152,968,373 | 2022-2025 | Our estimate | ||
| Parachute payments | Championship | £233,000,000 | 5 | £46,600,000 | 2020-21 | |
| Solidarity payments | Championship | £102,201,000 | 19 | £5,379,000 | 2024-25 | Our estimate |
| Solidarity payments | League One | £19,364,400 | 24 | £806,850 | 2024-25 | |
| Solidarity payments | League Two | £9,799,560 | 24 | £408,315 | 2024-25 |
An honest problem with this picture
Not every strand has a figure for the same season. The Premier League publishes its revenue, The FA publishes its club allocations, and the parachute and solidarity numbers we can actually source are not current. We can't find a single consolidated annual table, which has been published, of where football's money goes.
We have identified every season the figures shown come from, and the caption under the diagram lists them. It is also the reason our fourth ask exists.
Per club, per season, by division
| Division | Per club |
|---|---|
| Premier League | £126,458,333 |
| Championship, on parachutes | £46,600,000 |
| Championship, solidarity | £5,379,000 |
| League One | £806,850 |
| League Two | £408,315 |
| Steps 1 to 6 | £16,064 |
Our estimate Mixed seasons and mixed confidence. Both are labelled in the table and in the tooltips.
Premier League revenue: TV rights, sponsorship and IMG Productions. SportsPro, 2024-11-22. Premier League parachute and solidarity payments. Wikipedia. Premier League announces increased funding for non-league and women's clubs. Football Foundation, 2022-03-28. The FA releases National League System club allocations for Steps 1-6 in 2026-27 season. The Football Association, 2026-05-14.Source: SportsPro
Source: Wikipedia
Source: Football Foundation
Source: The Football Association
On a linear scale a Premier League club's bar makes every other bar look like a rounding error, which is exactly what it is. That chart is not a rhetorical trick; it is a bar chart of six numbers.
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