Knowing that their club are back in the Premier League after a 16-year exile is probably enough for Leeds United’s long-suffering fans.
But with the Whites’ new status will come plenty of added extras for supporters, and not just a king’s ransom to invest in exciting, new players.
A top-flight Leeds will be highly attractive for television companies holding the rights to their Premier League games, both in the UK and around the world.
And every time the Whites are on the box will mean extra funds coming in to help Marcelo Bielsa put together a team capable of coping with the demands of their new environs. With that in mind, we’ve taken a look at how often promoted sides have found themselves on TV in recent years and the associated benefits.
Over the course of the 2018/19 season, Leeds United brought in £1.49m from games broadcast live by Sky Sports. The broadcaster paid a six-figure sum for each home game aired live (not on the red button), making smaller payments to away sides.
We’re looking at the 2018/19 season, as opposed to the 2019/20 campaign, because the frequency of televised games in the top two tiers in June and July of this year is unlikely to be repeated.
That £1.49m was the payout from 24 live games. Leeds are unlikely to be on TV as frequently in the Premier League, but the financial benefits will be significantly greater.
In 2018/19, Premier League clubs received a minimum of £12.3m for hosting up to 10 games, with 16 of the 20 clubs in the division going above that figure, according to Nick Harris of the Sportingintelligence website. There was also an additional “equal share” (including factors such as overseas TV rights) which amounted to £79.4m per club.
However, promoted sides don’t all play the same number of televised games - Leeds, for example, are likely to be in more demand than West Brom - so we’ve taken a look at average returns to get a more accurate feel for how sides coming up from the Championship have fared.
All three of the teams promoted to the Premier League in 2018 were on TV more than 10 times in the subsequent season, according to Advanced Television.
Wolves featured 16 times, Fulham 13 and Cardiff City 12, ensuring payouts of £17.9m, £15.7m and £14.6m respectively.
In 2017/18, Championship winners Newcastle United were televised 18 times, well ahead of Premier League debutants Brighton & Hove Albion (13) and Huddersfield Town (nine).
Planet Football reveals that of the three teams promoted in 2016/17, only Middlesbrough (13) were on TV more than 10 times, ahead of Burnley (10) and Hull City (eight).
With Sky and BT showing the same number of games across those three seasons, the promoted sides were on something approaching a comparable playing field.
The number of televised games for 2019/20 was due to rise to 200, but the unique circumstances of the coronavirus outbreak and Project Restart meant the true number was much higher.
Nevertheless, that 200 figure also applies for the 2020/21 campaign, meaning promoted sides should feature on TV a little more frequently than in previous seasons.
So, what does that mean for Leeds? On average, over the last three seasons, promoted teams have been on TV an average of 12.4 times.
That rises to 14.7 times for the Championship title winners, 13 for runners-up and just 9.7 for the three teams who came up via the play-offs between 2016 and 2018.
There could well be other factors at play, with teams’ league position and fixtures dictating which of their games are chosen for TV in the second half of the season, while Leeds’ tradition and long absence from the top flight may also have a part to play in how many of their games are chosen. However, in broad terms, that’s a solid guide to what we can expect for the Whites from their 2020/21 campaign.
