How much Championship title is worth as Leeds United and Burnley chase Premier League prize fund

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The Championship is an outlier in football’s financial ecosystem. It’s the wealthiest non top-flight league in the world, the ninth richest in the game overall, and the 14th most lucrative in all of sport.

Leeds United, Sheffield United and Burnley have separated from the rest of the pack and – with 12 games to go in 2024-25 – look set to do battle for the Championship’s two automatic promotion spots.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	LeedsLeeds	34	22	9	3	71	21	50	75
2	Sheff UtdSheffield Utd	34	22	6	6	48	26	22	70
3	BurnleyBurnley	34	18	14	2	43	9	34	68
4	SunderlandSunderland	34	17	11	6	50	31	19	62
5	West BromWest Brom	34	12	15	7	44	31	13	51
6	BlackburnBlackburn	34	15	6	13	39	34	5	51

It’s no trade secret that EFL clubs want top spot in the second tier not because of the Championship’s modest prize money but rather because of the dizzying riches available in the Premier League.

The financial chasm between the Premier League and the Championship is extraordinary.

The two leagues exist in different universes. The reason the average wages-to-turnover ratio in the second tier is 104 per cent is because owners are willing to roll the dice to make it to the promised land.

When you add transfer spending into the mix too, the high-tariff game that nearly every Championship club is playing becomes even more apparent.

Significantly, a major shakeup of the financial distribution mechanism between the Premier League and the rest of the pyramid is on the horizon with the introduction of an independent football regulator.

The regulator – which has the backing of most EFL clubs and its CEO Rick Parry, who was one of the key architects of the Premier League breakaway in 1992 – could be implemented in late 2025 or early 2026.

The bill is making its way through Parliament and its purview will include the ability to modify parachute payments and the solidarity payments from the top tier throughout the pyramid

This is expected to be more of a backstop power if the two divisions can’t agree a new deal. The EFL wants a 25 per cent cut of the top flight’s annual £3.4bn media revenue, up from the current 16 per cent.

If the EFL gets what it wants, there is likely to be a relatively significant scaling back of parachute payments. In short, there are a lot of moving parts at present.

With all that said, how much is winning the Championship title race actually worth as it stands?

Broadly speaking, there are three interwoven answers:

1. Prize money from the EFL itself
2. Increased revenue in the Premier League
3. Commercial

Here, EFL Analysis examines the breakdown in detail.

• READ MORE: Chris Wilder’s past Leeds United claim still makes no sense as Sheffield United aim for top spot in the Championship

Championship title prize money breakdown

Championship clubs receive around £5m in solidarity money from the Premier League, with the EFL’s central income topping that up to around £11m.

The central income figure is up by about £2m thanks to the new EFL TV deal, which has seen the value per televised match plummet but an increase in the aggregate.

The breakdown in terms of prize money per position is negligible.

The only material difference between winning the Championship title and finishing in any other position comes via facility fees, which are paid out each time a club’s home match is televised.

Games at the top end of the table are more frequently televised, ergo they get more money, although we don’t have the details for the facility fees under the terms of the new TV deal.

Going up via the play-offs vs automatic promotion

Paradoxically, finishing 6th and going up via the play-offs is worth slightly more than winning the title.

From the total of four play-off semi-finals matches, each club receives a 12.5 per cent cut of the gate receipts, while the two clubs who make the final get 25 per cent of the ticketing revenue from Wembley.

As there is only a token disparity in the prize money for finishing 1st compared to 6th, the play-offs are – marginally – more lucrative.

The difference would be offset somewhat by player bonuses, appearance fees and the like, however, so it really is only a small margin.

• READ MORE: Championship expert shares QPR vs Sheffield United score prediction as ‘reality’ finally catches up with one team

Premier League revenue vs EFL cash breakdown

Once promoted to the Premier League, the TV money starts to flow freely.

Club who aren’t already in receipt of parachute payments can expect a minimum increase in annual revenue of around 400 per cent.

For clubs like Luton who were coming from a lower base when they were promoted to the Premier League, the upswing is more dramatic by an order of magnitude.

In 2022-23, the last season for which a full dataset is available, the smallest amount any club earned from the domestic and international TV deal was the £112m banked by Leeds United.

The lowest total revenue of any club in the same season was Bournemouth, whose turnover was £141m.

Parachute payments: How much are they worth?

If you’re promoted, either as champions, runners-up or play-off winners, you’re guaranteed one season of Premier League revenue and, if you’re relegated again, parachute payments.

Parachute payments, which are essentially in insurance plan for relegated clubs due to the cliff edge between the Premier League and Championship, are paid in instalments over a maximum of three years.

The Premier League have not released the breakdown in parachute payments for a few years now, but £265m is the record that has been distributed to recently relegated clubs in a single season.

The distribution mechanism? It depends how long you have spent in the top flight, with the amount increasing with every season and vice versa if a team is relegated and promoted in successive seasons.

The system is front-loaded, with clubs getting approximately £41m in year one, £35m in year two and £15m in year three – although it should be noted.

It should be stressed that these are rough figures and there are several variables that affect how much and when a club receives parachute payments.

• READ MORE: Burnley set to break 15-year Championship record this season with one player three games away from historic feat

Commercial benefits of the Premier League compared to Championship

As well as the cold, hard prize money, parachute payments and media income, there is less easily quantifiable but still significant uplift in commercial income that arises upon promotion.

Take Leeds United, for example, who historically have been one of the most commercially successful clubs in Europe.

When they were promoted in 2019-20, commercial income shot up by almost £10m overnight and, after stabilising in the Premier League, had almost doubled compared to when they were in the Championship.

Sponsorship is the big driver, with multinational companies willing to dig deeper for the global exposure that the Premier League provides.

However, most clubs also experience a surge in merchandise sales and are able to charge higher ticket prices, particularly in the lucrative corporate hospitality areas of the stadium.

In summary, there are dozens of variables in determining how much promotion via the Championship title is concerned, but the revenue upswing starts at £1450m and can theoretically climb much higher.