The price of staying up: How Premier League survival is costing clubs their profits
IMAGO | Wes Burns of Ipswich Town and Adam Lallana of Southampton during a Premier League match this season. Both clubs were promoted to the Premier League this summer.
Last season was only the second time since the formation of the Premier League that all three promoted teams were immediately relegated – despite a collective transfer spend of around £175 million.
Research undertaken by Off The Pitch finds the cost of competing at the lower end of the EPL has risen markedly in the last decade. The median wage bill of a surviving bottom half club grew from £64 million in 2014 to £142 million in 2023.
Why it matters: The Premier League recently announced another big increase for its next broadcast rights cycle, but profitability is currently a distant aim for many clubs, with rising wage bills a chief contributor to losses.
The perspective: EFL Championship clubs lose huge sums in pursuit of the riches of the Premier League. But evidence suggests the spending will have to keep coming to ensure relegation is avoided and those riches aren’t short-lived.
3 January 2025 - 2:21 PM
As November drew to a close and advent loomed into view, English Premier League (EPL) clubs met on an autumnal Friday morning. The headlines from that meeting were dominated by the EPL’s proposed Associated Party Transaction rules (APTs) passing, with Manchester City on the losing side, but of perhaps greater consequence was the other announcement made that day.
Continuing a trend over a quarter-century long,
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