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.

It's no deal say Spurs insiders over Taiwanese takeover

Senior figures at Tottenham Hotspur insisted on Friday that they had not been informed of any deal to sell Daniel Levy’s stake in the club. A business group, Eight Sports Capital — which is said to include a billionaire Taiwanese financier — claimed that it had an agreement in place to buy a 24.99 per cent stake in ENIC, the club’s majority owners, from Levy, who owns 29.88 per cent. The Times has been told Ng Wing Fai and Brooklyn Earick form part of the group, having both been linked previously to potential takeovers of the Premier League club. The Taiwanese businessman, Richard Tsai, is also said to be part of the consortium. He is reportedly worth £7 billion. Last year Earick, the former DJ and tech entrepreneur, was part of an attempted £4.5 billion takeover, which was “unequivocally rejected” by Spurs. An ENIC spokesperson said: “We can confirm that neither ENIC nor THFC are aware of any sale by Daniel Levy’s Family Trust of its minority stake in ENIC, THFC’...

Reports about Charlton sale exaggerated

Reports have appeared in The Guardian and elsewhere that Charlton has been put up for sale. Richard Cawley is an authoritative local journalist who runs a South London Sport substack site. He reached out to the club yesterday evening to ask for comment on The Guardian’s article. Early indications from the club have been that nothing has changed since the story about them seeking investment, except that it is now a different company doing it. Charlton have since managed to consolidate their place in the Championship, avoiding an instant return to League One, with their women’s side promoted to the WSL, returning to the top flight for the first time since 2007, although staying there is likely to be costly. It would be counter-intuitive for owners Global Football Partners not to progress the club when looking for investment, that the focus remains on driving it forward, that their spend this summer is in line with long-term planning and will see an increase in wages spent on players...

Hull City's 'strange' loan

When football finance guru Kieran Maguire seems flashing lights in a club's loan deal, I become concerned. He is the leading football finance expert in the UK. Hull City have borrowed £55m against their stadium and training ground yet they should get £30m from the Premier League before long. What is going on? https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cpwel48y51do

The Political Economy of Football V2

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