Premier League TV rights: explained

The Premier League 2023/24 season is set to kick-off on the 12st August, and according to The Telegraph, 60 more games will be available on TV in an attempt to get more cash from broadcasters.

So how exactly do Premier League TV rights work, and which clubs are reaping the highest rewards?

Premier League TV rights as a collective

At the moment, each of the 20 teams in the Premier League collectively sell their television rights to the organisation that run the league. This means the organisation owns the rights for every club and deals with broadcasters directly, instead of each club selling TV rights individually.

Broadcasters then bid on packages of matches and each Premier League team splits the broadcasting rights payments each season. Further revenue is available to clubs based on how often their matches are shown on TV.

Currently, deals with BT Sport, Amazon Prime and Sky Sports mean British supporters must subscribe to all these services to watch all available games.

Manchester City take the lion’s share

According to Statista, in the 2021/22 season “Manchester City earned more money from televised matches than any other Premier League club, with a total broadcasting revenue of over 146 million British pounds.” This was closely followed by Liverpool FC who brought in £145m, Chelsea at £139m, and Tottenham Hotspur earning £139m.

Manchester City are estimated to sit at the top spot again for the 2022/23 season, after being crowned winners of the Premier League for the 7^th time.

Is the Premier League in for a big change?

A recent article by The Independent explains “increasing concerns about the expense” for supporters, who are having “to play close to £100” to watch all the potential Premier League games on TV.

“The UK audience will pay more than almost any other country for Premier League football but will get to watch fewer games” they say, due to the way the current broadcasting model operates.

This sparks debate about whether the Premier League’s broadcasting model may have to change to better suit a more digital future, as “big tech like Apple and Amazon could really open the next phase of sports broadcasting evolution”.

Which broadcasters are contenders for the 2025-28 rights?

Back in 2018, we saw Sky Sports, BT Sport and Amazon Prime fork out a whopping £4.8billion for Premier League packages, with the deal renewing in 2021.

Later this year, the tender process is set to begin for the 2025-28 broadcasting rights. There has been much speculation as to which broadcasters may bid, with possible contenders including the current holders – Sky, BT and Prime.

According to Video Week, other potential bidders include Viaplay, who only “launched in the UK in November 2022 but hold the Premier League rights in nine European countries”. Dazn may also submit a bid, as well as Apple TV+ – who they say could “replace Amazon if the price is right”.