Mega-rich Premier League reportedly about to get $700 million richer from China
The Premier League is already far and away the richest league in the world. Television rights are the biggest reason for that, with Sky and BT's reported three-year £5.14 billion deal that kicked in this season leading the way.
That added revenue gives even the most unheralded of Premier League clubs the financial might to battle clubs all across Europe for the rights to sign players. And that's just from domestic broadcasting revenue. Overseas, NBC's reported current six-year, $1 billion rights deal leads the way. That deal, worth $167 million per year and set to expire in 2022, is about to be eclipsed in a big way.
That's right, the Premier League is about to make another massive chunk of cash in the coming years. According to The Times, Chinese broadcaster Suning is set to buy the rights to broadcast the Premier League for a whopping $700 million for three years. That would give the EPL a $233 million windfall each year from 2019-22.
With 20 Premier League teams and an incoming $233 million, that means Premier League teams stand to earn $11.65 million apiece from Chinese television rights alone. Factor in the expected increased exposure to a country of more than a billion people, and merchandising and other commercial interests should also see an uptick for Premier League teams.
Where does all of this extra money wind up? Most of it winds up going into the transfer marker, of course. We've already seen the effects of the current boon for the EPL, with the teams combining to spend a record $1 billion in this past summer's transfer window. A total of 13 teams broke their transfer record in summer 2016 alone.
Basically, the rich keep getting richer and it doesn't show any sign of letting up. As a result, the gulf between the Premier League's revenue and every other league in Europe's revenue will continue to widen.
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