LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Wednesday, July 22, 2020: Liverpool's captain Jordan Henderson (C) celebrates with the Premier League trophy as the Reds are crowned Champions after the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Chelsea FC at Anfield. The game was played behind closed doors due to the UK government’s social distancing laws during the Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic. Dejan Lovren, goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher, Joe Gomez, Virgil van Dijk. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

Liverpool to receive record £175m prize money in potential boost to summer spending

Liverpool will receive a record sum in TV and prize money for winning the 2019/20 Premier League, after clubs agreed to defer rebates to broadcasters.

With games postponed, advertising down, no fans inside stadiums and businesses in shutdown mode due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, clubs have agreed to pay a chunk of money back to broadcasters which they would normally receive.

The amount to be returned is expected to reach £330 million—but top-flight clubs have voted to spread that cost across future seasons, rather than affecting their immediate cashflow.

That means Liverpool will receive around £175 million for winning the league and appearing live on television, the Times report.

One possible working suggested that the Reds could have lost out over £20 million of that if the rebates had been factored into 2019/20’s prize money.

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Wednesday, July 22, 2020: Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson lifts the Premier League trophy and celebrates with his team-mates as they are crowned Champions after the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Chelsea FC at Anfield. The game was played behind closed doors due to the UK government’s social distancing laws during the Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic. Liverpool won 5-3. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

  • There are 55 broadcasters worldwide and agreements have not yet been reached with all
  • Chinese broadcaster Suning has yet to make a £160m payment to the Premier League
  • An advance solidarity payment of £125m has been made to EFL clubs
  • But Premier League sides will not finance a bail-out of lower league teams

What this means for Liverpool’s immediate future is still up for debate, but it certainly should ease any cashflow uncertainty for the summer.

All along the approach has been that Liverpool needed to wait and see as the far-reaching economic effects of coronavirus couldn’t be fully known until time passes.

And while there will still be a significant shortfall in Liverpool’s financial estimates from earlier this year due to a lack of fans inside Anfield on match days, this £175 million windfall is a phenomenal chunk to have confirmed coming in.

It could well be that a portion, at least, is allocated towards strengthening Jurgen Klopp‘s first team further.

So far this summer the expenditure has largely matched the incoming fees in terms of transfers—around £12 million out for Kostas Tsimikas, around £11 million in for Dejan Lovren—but the wage bill has decreased considerably after the exits of Nathaniel Clyne and Adam Lallana, too.

As such, there might be optimism for supporters that this extra income, and the deferment of rebates, allows Michael Edwards and his team to bring in either a bigger-name player they had already identified as key, or else to further add to the depth of the squad the way they have with Liverpool’s new Greek left-back.