Football: Record pay-out for champions Chelsea
English champions Chelsea received a record Premier League pay-out this season.
LONDON (AFP) - English champions Chelsea received a record Premier League pay-out of more than 150 million pound ($190 million, 172 million euros) this season, nearly 60 million pound more than their predecessors Leicester, after new TV deals came into force.
The broadcast deals, including a bumper domestic contract, ensured generous end-of-season payments for all 20 Premier League clubs who shared a total of 2.4 billion pound.
Figures on the league s website showed Leicester, who earned 93 million pound after their stunning title success last year, received 116 million pound this season, when they finished 12th.
Second-placed Tottenham Hotspur earned about 145 million pound -- slightly less than Manchester City and Liverpool owing to the difference in their "facility fees", awarded for appearances on TV.
Domestic rights to broadcast the Premier League were sold for 5.1 billion pound over three seasons, dwarfing the previous deal.
The league shares money from its central commercial deals and overseas broadcast rights on an equal basis, which means all 20 clubs got nearly 5 million pound each for the former and 39 million pound for the latter.
Even the three clubs who were relegated leave with large payments, including bottom-placed Sunderland who received just over 93m pound.
The Premier League also paid out nearly 220 million pound in "parachute payments" to eight teams relegated in recent seasons: Aston Villa, Cardiff, Fulham, Newcastle, Norwich, QPR, Reading and Wigan.
Villa, Newcastle and Norwich, who were relegated last year, got almost 41 million pound each, QPR 31 million pound and the other four more than 16 million pound.
Overall, the ratio between the highest and the lowest earning clubs in the Premier League was 1.61 to 1, the lowest among Europe s top leagues.
The Premier League s appeal to broadcasters at home and abroad has also permitted it to increase the money it distributes to grassroots facilities and projects.
In the last financial year, the league spent 200 million pound in this area, about seven percent of its total broadcast income.
