10 Premier League clubs with the lowest wage-to-income ratios

The Premier League was founded on February 1992, with the-then English First Division breaking away from the rest of the football league. This was motivated by a then unprecedented TV rights deal agreed upon by the clubs in the division. Sky won the aforementioned rights; signing a 191m pound, five-year deal. This led to an inflow of funds into the Premier League that had previously been unseen in the top leagues. Prior to this, teams had sold their broadcasting rights individually. Other European leagues continued to do this for a few years after the Premier League’s introduction.

With the Premier league’s distribution model being centralized, the broadcasting money is shared in a fair manner (50% equally amongst the 20 teams, 25% based on league position, 25% based on # of live games). This led to a disparity in spending power between the Premier League and other leagues in terms of transfer fees and wages. The income flowing into the league has increased incessantly since ’92, meaning the expenses have grown in tow. The cost of broadcasting rights for the Premier League in the 2019–2022 cycle now stands at 9.2 billion pounds. That’s the revenue from 1992–1997 cycle almost 50 times over, for a shorter span of time. In terms of expenses(in pounds), the most recent transfer window led to 1.3 billion in transfer fees from the 20 teams. The season prior to the Premier League’s establishment, the combined transfer spending amongst First Division teams was 49.1 million pounds. Teams in the league spent 25…