The Premier League Gravy Train shows no sign of fading as Tuesday brought news of another record deal for UK domestic TV rights.

In 2012 the entry of BT into the Premier League auction helped drive the rights up to $1.6B per season from a previous record high of $990M. This time around the shadow cast by BT forced the Premier League’s primary domestic broadcaster Sky to almost double their commitment.

For the three soccer seasons that start with 2016/17 BT will pay nearly $1.5B for 42 games each season; Sky will pay $6.4B for 142 games each season. A few weeks ago the Premier League announced that the BBC had retained the traditional Saturday night highlights package at a cost of $310M over three seasons.

Only once since its inception in 1992 has the Premier League experienced a reduction in domestic rights.

 

Based on this domestic rights increase alone, the team that finishes rock bottom in 2016/17 can expect to receive close to $140M and that does not include the parachute payment that it will receive to ease the transition to a lower division. The winner of the Premier League should receive close to $200M.

With the domestic phase now over and the bar reset to a new high the Premier League will now turn its attention to overseas deals. Overseas rights deals increased by 37% to $1B per season in the last round and similar increases are likely a minimum expectation for League officials.

NBC is the Premier League rights holder in the United States and paid $250M for the privilege. A bid of $400M is probably going to be needed to extend the rights for another three years.

By the time the last deal is signed the Premier League can expect to bank in excess of $4B each season and close to $12.5B for the upcoming three-year cycle.