Chelsea may have beaten Arsenal and Tottenham to third place in the Premier League but they did not win the battle for television revenue.
Roman Abramovich’s side were broadcast just 16 times this season compared to 21 Spurs and 22 Arsenal games. Their lack of television coverage means that Chelsea received £54.9m of revenue compared to £55.9m at White Hart Lane and £57.1 at the Emirates.
Champions Manchester United were screened 25 times throughout the season and unsurprisingly pocketed the most money with a total of £60.8m.
But this season’s distributions will be eclipsed next year and BT’s arrival will pump more than £2bn of new money into broadcast payments.
In 2013/14 the Premier League’s lowest finishing club can expect to receive more than this season’s victors as part of a new £5.5bn deal.
The 2014 champions will receive close to £100m in broadcast money and the bottom club are expected to earn around £63m compared to £39m given to QPR this season.
