Premiership cash boost on its way

Premiership clubs will see incomes rise by between £10million to £20million each from next season after the agreement of a £625million deal for overseas television rights.

The 20 teams competing in the Barclays Premiership will share in an astounding £2.725billion pot over the next three seasons - 60 per cent or £1billion more than the current three-year deal.

There will also be a positive spin-off with an extra £23million, making a total of £38million a year, being ploughed into grass-roots football.

Last season's champions Chelsea earned £30.4million from Premier League TV money while bottom club Sunderland earned £16.8million. From next season, the champions can expect to bring in close to £50million and the side finishing bottom around £26million.

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said: "By focusing on the quality of the game, their players and their grounds, the clubs have produced a competition that people want to watch - both at matches and at home.

"That is the basis of our commercial success and I am confident that we will continue to invest in the best players and facilities to keep the Premier League where it is today - the most watched domestic football competition in the world."

Sports minister Richard Caborn welcomed the deal as being good for grass-roots football.

Caborn and culture secretary Tessa Jowell both met the European Commission last year during their dispute with the Premier League, to urge them to allow a collective agreement because of the positive benefits.

Caborn said: "This is good news. It shows the Premier League is the number one domestic league in world football and I'm also pleased because it means a massive boost for the grass-roots with the amount of money increasing from £15million a year to around £38million a year."

The £2.725billion is made up of £1.7billion for domestic rights sold to Sky and Setanta, £400million from highlights for broadcast on the internet and mobile phones, plus the latest £625million overseas rights deal.

The overseas deal is around double that agreed for the current three-year global rights deal.

Scudamore has travelled to India and is expected to announce tomorrow a number of international football projects that the Premier League are due to finance as a result of the new TV deals.