Manchester City’s alleged use of “sham contracts” to inflate sponsorship income has sparked a debate about how much the club’s excess spending may have cost other Premier League teams. BBC Sport’s analysis, drawing on prize‑money figures from 2009 to 2018, estimates that the overall financial impact on the other 35 clubs could amount to roughly £800 million, a sum that includes lost league placement earnings, missed Champions League payouts, relegation costs and domestic cup revenue.
The figures are derived from a straightforward comparison of the money City earned in each competition against what the clubs that finished below them would have received. For league placement, every team that finished below City is assumed to have missed the prize money for one place higher. Relegation costs are calculated by taking the minimum value of staying in the Premier League for the following season and subtracting the parachute payments that are paid to relegated clubs. Champions League earnings are estimated by subtracting the Europa League prize money that the impacted clubs would have earned from the amount City received in the next season’s Champions League. Across all competitions, City collected £1.17 billion – £812 million from Premier League prize money and broadcast revenue, £363 million from the Champions League, and a modest £1.2 million from domestic cup victories – while the other clubs are said to have lost a combined £799.5 million.
The most heavily affected club, according to the study, is Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs finished outside the Champions League places in four of the eight seasons in which City qualified for Europe. In those seasons, City’s Champions League earnings ranged from £71 million to £148 million, whereas Tottenham’s Europa League payouts were only £29 million to £17 million. The gap was widest in 2014‑15, when City earned £71 million from the Champions League semi‑finals and Spurs received just £17 million from the Europa League, a difference of £53 million. Spurs also lost roughly £6 million in league placement money over the period, resulting in an overall net loss of about £120 million for the club.
Other clubs also feel the sting of City’s dominance. Liverpool’s 2015‑16 EFL Cup loss on penalties meant the Europa League spot went to West Ham, and Liverpool missed out on the £37 million prize that Manchester United later earned as Europa League winners. Liverpool’s potential loss of a Europa League place, combined with the £10 million in league placement money they would have received, totals a £48 million hit. Hull City’s two relegations during the period are estimated to have cost the club nearly £94 million in lost top‑flight revenue, with an additional £5 million in placement money for finishing below City in four seasons.
While City continue to deny any wrongdoing and have appealed the findings, the BBC’s assessment highlights the broader financial ripple effects of the club’s alleged financial misconduct. Even if the exact compensation each club could claim remains uncertain, the numbers illustrate how a single team’s inflated spending can reshape the competitive and monetary landscape of the Premier League.