With the 2018/19 campaign ending in disappointment for everyone associated with Leeds United, there were a number of high points that we can take from our first year under Marcelo Bielsa and we also had a number of off pitch distractions – one of which was the ongoing battle between Andrea Radrizzani and the EFL when it came to the television deal.
With the pot shared on an equal basis despite Leeds appearing on the national telebox 24 times across the campaign, Yorkshire Evening Post journalist Joe Urquhart noted down some figures this week.
Leeds received £1.45million for our 24 appearances and the associated inconvenience for the fans, and even though we were the most shown side outside of the Premier League top 6, by comparison, Premier League Champions Manchester City earned £34million (+£43million overseas pot) for appearing 26 times across the season.
https://twitter.com/JoeUrquhartYEP/status/1134096059993612289
A staggering disparity when you look at the applied value of each side and it’s perfectly understandable as to why plenty of Championship chairman disagree with the makeup of the EFL deal. The Premier League split with some funds being guaranteed, yet others based on television appearances is a far greater way of allocating the funding and it’s a battle that will no doubt continue.
Fans understandably have their own thoughts on this.
This is why sky show leeds so much. They are a bargain! You get premier league audience for a fraction of the price, no brained from a tv point of view. Man Utd would be on every week if they were in the championship
— James Pearson (@JamesPearson25) May 30, 2019
Crazy figures the Efl and shaun Harvey really have a lot to answer for
— jamie whitfield (@whitfield_jamie) May 30, 2019
Quick search suggests that PL viewing figures range from the lowest of 450,000 (record low) to about 1.5m (average maybe 1.15m) so being generous 3x Leeds viewers. & Leeds get paid about 5% of a PL club!
— Jon Gledhill (@gleds169) May 30, 2019
Is really tough and have to accept this.
— peter-maurice (@petermauriceuk) May 30, 2019
Shocking no wonder the chairman wants to take the @EFL to task with the rubbish deal they have. The gap just gets wider & not good for football
— Mip (@mipsical) May 30, 2019
Well, that’s depressing ????
— Timmy Wibbs (@TimmyWibbs) May 30, 2019
wow unbelievable figures! its a disgrace really but whoever negotiated the deal for the championship sides should be sacked! maybe each club in the championship should have their own person to negotiate the clubs deal. Im up for speaking to Sky for Leeds £1.45M scandalous.
.— Saffron/Davidson (@SaffronDMS) May 30, 2019
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