How much Birmingham City earn in TV money compared to Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea | OneFootball

Birmingham City are chasing a place in the Premier League, and there'll be a lot of money in it form them if they can manage it this season.

Birmingham City are chasing a return to the Premier League following an absence of 15 years, and the financial benefits of making it there demonstrate why they were so desperate for it in the first place.

Following on from their 1-1 draw with Ipswich on the opening weekend, Birmingham recorded their first League win of the season away to Blackburn Rovers on Saturday. It's been clear from their summer in the transfer market that they only see promotion from League One as the first of a two-part story to get the club back into the Premier League.

Birmingham completed the first part of this in a record-breaking fashion last season, with 111 points taking them to the League One title, but their first two Championship matches of this season have demonstrated that the higher division is likely to be a far stiffer challenge for them.

But the financial rewards of getting into the Premier League demonstrate why the Blues are so keen to get back to the top-flight as quickly as possible.

The biggest Premier League clubs can earn over £170 million a year in broadcasting revenue

The gulf in revenue between the Championship and the Premier League is vast. Premier League clubs made between £110 million and £175 million in 2024-25 through broadcasting revenues, while Championship clubs who don't receive parachute payments may make less than 10% of the lower of those two figures.

All twenty Premier League clubs automatically receive around £96.9m through an equal share, which is based on both the domestic and international broadcast contracts, at £29.9 million and £59.2 million respectively, and £7.9 million each from centralised commercial revenue streams.

The difference in this type of income between Premier League clubs comes through "facility fees" and "merit payments". Facility fees refer to the number of times they're broadcast live on the television, while merit payments are essentially prize money awarded according to a club's final league position, calculated at around £2.7 million per place.

The most successful Premier League clubs earn around 1.6 times the amount that those at the foot of the table do. For the 2024-25 season, Southampton made the lowest amount, at £109.2 million, while the champions Liverpool brought in the most, at £174.9 million. Clubs that qualify for European competitions receive further income from their involvement in those.

Arsenal and Chelsea made £171.5 million and £163.7 million from Premier League broadcasting revenues last season. Manchester United earned a lower amount on account of their lowly 15th-placed finish in the table, at £136.2 million.

Championship TV revenues demonstrate why Birmingham need Premier League football

Even the least successful Premier League clubs make considerably more than the biggest draws in the Championship.

A new deal struck between the EFL and Sky Sports ahead of the 2024-25 season did increase the amount of money that they can expect to receive, to around £3 million to £4 million per season, on top of match fees of between £500k-£1.5m per season. With solidarity payments from the Premier League and international broadcasting revenues to add to that, Championship clubs can expect to make between £10 million and £12 million from their broadcasting contract.

This is a huge gap from the Premier League. Parachute payments ease that burden for those just relegated, but Birmingham aren't in receipt of those, so their revenue from broadcasting will be limited to around a tenth of the earnings of even the least successful top-flight clubs.

But Birmingham are nothing if not ambitious. Their plans for a 62,000-capacity stadium, which is reportedly to cost them £3 billion, are proof of that on their own. Such expenditure makes Premier League football imperative for them, even though this sort of infrastructure won't impact upon their PSR position.

Such a vast development requires considerably greater financial power than Birmingham could ever generate in the Championship, and that only comes with Premier League football. Given the club's spending, on infrastructure as well as transfer fees and wages, reaching the top flight quickly is essential for them.