It's the fourth of May 2016. The
Semi-Finals of the Champions League at
the Bernabeu. Gareth Bale's cross is
deflected in by Fernando and Real Madrid
beat Manchester City, eventually going on
to claim their 11th European Cup.
Despite this, City earned 83.9 million euros
3.8 million more the Madrid; how is
this possible?
T7he Champions League broadcasting income
is split proportionately based on the
contributions of each competing league.
England's contribution in the form of
299 million euros from BT Sport is the
highest of all the competing countries,
therefor English teams command a
greater total of the TV pool. Manchester
City's 83.9 million euros breaks down
into a 12 million euro participation fee,
6.4 million for their group position,
5.5 for reaching the final 16, 6 million for
the quarterfinals, 7 for the semi-finals and
46.9 million euros from
the TV pool. Real Madrid, the second
highest earning team of last season's
competition, received 80.1 million euros,
breaking down into a 12 million euro
participation fee, 8.5 million for
winning their group, the standard fees
for the following three rounds, and then
50 million euros for reaching the final
and winning the competition. However they
received just 26 million euros from the
TV pool, almost half of City's take.
This is partially due to the Spanish TV
deals smaller size relative to BT Sports
huge payments, but it's also because
Spanish teams performed better overall
during the competition. Each country's
share of the market TV pool is split
between their competing teams. Spain
had five clubs throughout both european
competitions progressing into the
knockout rounds, and both competitions
will also won by Spanish teams. This
meant their 89 million euro share of the
TV pot was split between five teams
depending on the success of those teams.
England's pot share was
143 million euros, and since
Manchester City were the only team to
reach the quarter and the semi-finals,
they benefited by receiving a larger
portion of that share. In short,
financially it benefits a team if the
other teams in their domestic league are
eliminated from the European
competitions earlier. This explains why
Juventus has earned more than any other
team in European competitions in the
last five seasons, largely due to Italy's
112 million euro share
of the TV pool, and there being just
two Italian teams competing in the
Champions League fairly often. Last
season Spanish teams earned the most from
European competitions with a 19-percent
share of the overall payout; 254 million
euros. Despite the relative lack of
on-field success enjoyed by English
teams, they received an 18-percent share,
244 million euros, largely due to their
significantly larger proportion of the
television deal.
For the current three-year deal UEFA
have altered the distribution of money
increasing the fees for on field success,
and slightly reducing the proportional
TV pool.
This might seem fairer, but in reality,
the competition's remain dominated by
the big five leagues with next-in-line
Portugal receiving almost half of
fifth-placed France's payout.