Arsenal become first club to earn £100m in Premier League payments as Tottenham top £90m

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James Benge24 May 2016

Arsenal have become the first club in the history of the Premier League to earn over £100million from the competition's central income payments.

The Gunners earned the highest sum of any club in the top flight, nearly £101m, thanks to having their matches televised in the UK 27 times, the most of any side this season.

That netted Arsenal £21.5m in “facility fees”, one of just two categories of payments not shared equally among the 20 clubs in the top flight. Clubs also receive merit payments that vary from nearly £25m for the league champions to little over £1m for the bottom-placed side.

Arsenal were the highest-earners in the league, ahead of Manchester City (£97m), Manchester United (£96.5m) and Tottenham (£95.2m).

West Ham claimed £85.8m, nearly £1.4m less than Chelsea even though they finished three places above their London rivals.

That was largely down to the Blues, who endured a high-profile meltdown in the first half of the season under Jose Mourinho, proving to be more of a draw to Sky and BT. They were televised 22 times, the Hammers only 15 times.

Crystal Palace took £72.1m in Premier League earnings, Watford £74.6m.

The equality of revenue in the English league is reflected by the earnings of bottom side in both the league and the income table, Aston Villa.

Their £66.6m figure means the ratio between the competition’s highest earners and its lowest is 1.52:1, a notably more equitable figure than in other top European divisions.

Leicester’s fairytale run to the title meant they earned the highest merit payment from the Premier League, £24.8m, yet in total they claimed less than £6m more than 10th-placed Chelsea.

From next season onwards the bottom placed side in the Premier League can expect to earn a similar sum to Arsenal’s, with Sky and BT having committed to a £2bn increase in their payment for the top flight’s television rights, taking the figure to £5.136bn.

In total clubs will earn over £8bn in television money once foreign rights are included; the Bundesliga’s deal for next season will be worth around £1.9bn.

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