Parachute payments have a distorting effect on the Championship according to a football finance expert - with Leeds United one of the beneficiaries next season. The difference between revenues in the Premier League and the EFL is huge, with TV revenues in the top flight estimated to be worth a minimum of £100m per season compared to less than £10m in the Championship.
That means it is bonanza time for clubs winning promotion to the Premier League, but those that are relegated must slash their budgets. The financial blow is softened somewhat by parachute payments which see teams receive money from the Premier League for three years following relegation, with a first-year payment of around £50m and - if they are not promoted at the first attempt - lower payments for years two and three.
And those parachute payments mean that sides such as Leeds coming into the Championship from the Premier League start with a massive advantage over those competing in the second tier without any such windfall. "There is this big drop off in the Championship in terms of revenue, while the regulations are different I'd hasten to add that, in terms of living within their means, the EFL is more successful than the Premier League," said football finance expert Professor Rob Wilson of Sheffield Hallam University, in an interview with Saxo.
