How much money Derby County will earn from Sky Sports TV deal in 2025/26 | OneFootball

The amount of money Derby made from TV increased dramatically with promotion from League One, but they're still at a disadvantage in the Championship.

Derby County marked their return to the Championship by avoiding relegation on the last day of the season, and the financial benefits of doing so are substantial.

The Rams finished the 2024/25 season in 20th place in the Championship, surviving the drop with a goalless draw against Stoke City on the final day.

And although the amounts of money concerned are nothing like those compared to the Premier League, there are financial ramifications that come with relegation from the Championship, which the club will have been relieved to avoid.

Championship television money is fairly evenly distributed

Under the terms of the new, improved contract signed between Sky Sports and the EFL in the summer of 2024, the broadcasting revenues for clubs in the Championship is divided into three components.

The first two parts of this are a basic award amount and solidarity payments from the Premier League.

The solidarity payment received from the Premier League is £4.5 million, while an equal share based on the Football League’s TV deal is worth around the same.

However, clubs who have been relegated from the Premier League within the last three years are not entitled to solidarity payments, meaning they will receive roughly half of that amount. Instead, they receive parachute payments which out-strip what any other club in the division can earn from broadcasting.

The third part is based on live television appearances. These range in value from £10,000 to £100,000 per appearance, based on a variety of factors including whether they're at home and the kick-off time. The away side usually earns £10,000, while the home team could receive up to £100,000, depending on the time slot selected.

Championship clubs not in receipt of parachute payments received around £11 million each from this method during the 2024/25 season. Derby can expect a similar amount next season, although this could be increased by cup runs.

Promotion in 2023/24 was good for Derby's finances

The big boost to Derby's finances from broadcasting came with promotion into the Championship at the end of the 2023/24 season. As a League One club, Derby only made £2.9 million from broadcasting for that season, a figure which dropped 25% from the previous one.

Promotion to the Championship increased that amount more than threefold, and Derby can expect a similar amount to the £11 million that they'll have received for this season again, next time around.

They are a relatively big draw in the division, so television appearances will be relatively plentiful again. Their matches were broadcast live 27 times last season, in line with the promise that all EFL clubs would be shown more than twenty times each when the new contract was announced.

What all of this tells us is that, for those clubs who don't receive parachute payments, broadcasting money is relatively meagre.

This is why promotion to the Premier League is so transformative for a club's finances. Not only do clubs promoted into the Premier League receive at least £110 million for one season there, but parachute payments for three seasons following relegation further insulate them from the costs going down, even if they can't get straight back up. Promotion can be worth £200 million to a club, even in the worst circumstances.

The couple of hundred thousand pounds that Derby could make from more television appearances next season is a drop in the ocean, compared to the vast amount of money they would make from promotion to the top flight. Small wonder clubs are falling over themselves to get near the top of the Championship table.