The ‘biggest prize’ in football

Aston Villa and Fulham will be playing for a minimum £160m when they go head-to-head for a place in the Premier League at Wembley Stadium on Saturday in a match often described as the richest in world soccer.

According to Deloitte Sports Business Group, the winner of the Championship play-off final for the third promotion place can finish bottom of the topflight next season and still benefit from lucrative broadcasting deals and parachute payments.

“All eyes will be on Wembley on Saturday afternoon for this winner-takes-all clash,” Dan Jones, partner and head of the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, said. “It will be, as ever, a fantastic advert for the competitive intensity of the Championship and the financial attraction of the Premier League.”

Fulham can expect to earn up to £170m over three seasons if it is relegated from the Premier League after just one season.

That breaks down to at least £95m, mostly from Premier League’s central payments, and about £75m in parachute payments in 2019-20 and 2020-21.

Villa were relegated from the top division in 2016 and would receive a third parachute payment in 2019. However, they will need to forego that amount should they get promoted, meaning their minimum net uplift would be £160m.

The change from three to two years of parachute payments was enforced from the 2016-17 season. This means any club that gets relegated after just one season in the Premier League is only entitled to two years of parachute payments.

The 2018-19 Premier League campaign will be the final season under a £5.1bn domestic TV rights deal signed in 2015.

The value of the broadcasting rights have since dropped after the Premier League sold the majority of the packages for the next cycle for almost £4.5bn in February. /