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Arsenal are in the money

It would seem that Arsenal are not particularly popular champions this season because of their style of play.  To me it seems that if set plays win you matches, that's fair enough.  In any event the Gooners are laughing all the way to the bank.

Arsenal’s first Premier League title for over two decades is expected to generate almost £200million ($269m) in domestic prize money as payouts to England’s top clubs hit new heights this season.   That is before we talk about the Champions League.

Arsenal are expected to earn £198.7 million in broadcast revenues from the Premier League this season, a £27.2m increase on 2024-25 and £23.8m more than Liverpool received for winning the competition a year ago. 

Arsenal’s takings are expected to be over £20 million higher than the previous single-season record: Manchester City’s £176.2m in 2022-23. The New York Times estimates that five clubs — Arsenal, City, Manchester United, Aston Villa and Liverpool — have all cleared that mark in 2025-26.

That big jump in earnings at the top of the division is driven by a large increase in ‘merit’ payments, where clubs receive more money the higher they finish in the table.

Such payments have been a staple of the Premier League since its inception in 1992 but have jumped markedly this year. Each league position in 2025-26 was worth an extra £3.76 million to clubs, up from £2.65m a year ago and a new high, surpassing the £3.11m-per-spot on offer in 2022-23. Arsenal are therefore understood to have earned £75.2m in merit payments this season, 42 per cent more than Liverpool’s £53.1m in 2024-25.

Sunderland’s 2-1 win over Chelsea elevated them both into the Europa League and a seventh-place spot, which upped their Premier League prize money to an estimated £168.2m, £11.3m higher than if they had remained 10th.

At the foot of the table, where fates have been known a long while, Burnley’s second-half equaliser ensured they finished higher than visitors Wolves and banked an extra £3.8m into the coffers, which will come in handy for next season in the Championship. Their extra money earned today is equivalent to more than a third of the TV money most Championship clubs earn, albeit Burnley and Wolves — and West Ham — will receive parachute payments in 2026-27.

Distributions from the international pots — £1.13billion in equal share payments and £430m in merit payments — now comprise 50 per cent of the total expected payouts to clubs in the top tier.

 £362.5million of Premier League distributions went to EFL clubs in 2025-26, or 12 per cent of the amount presented to the 20 teams above them. Of that, £225.4m went to five clubs in receipt of parachute payments: Ipswich Town, Leicester City, Luton Town, Sheffield United and Southampton.


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