Joining the Premier League, as part of promotion from the EFL Championship, is the proverbial golden ticket to riches, both in terms revenue and prestige for the promoted club. The quest for promotion for the club is a tricky pursuit with the curse of relegation looming alive. Historically, only two clubs, Fulham and Aston Villa, have managed to survive longer than 10 years in the Premier League since 2012-13. The real challenge is not just to secure promotion, but to remain there.
In 25/26, two clubs have secured their respective promotions, Ipswich Town FC who are returning back for the second time in three years and Coventry City FC who are back after 25 long years. Fight remains for the third place through the all-important playoffs between the next four clubs in ranking.
This blog looks at the impact in business for the clubs after securing a promotion to the Premier League.
Increase in Revenue
The financial harvest coming with a promotion to the Premier League is at multiple fronts. The most important and biggest is the broadcast revenue which can be safely said as “hefty”. As Dr Dan Plumley, a sports finance lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, points out, a rough £120mn for every promotion if the club has not been in the Premier League in the previous three years and have not been receiving parachute payments in which case the jump could be as much as £70mn – £80mn.
For Ipswich Town, it has been a successful return to the Premier League for the second time in there years. Since they were relegated in 25/26 after spending a season at the top, they are recipients of “parachute payments”, hence a straight gain could be in the range of £70mn – £80mn. For Coventry City, who are promoted for the first time now, they should be able to secure the broadcast income in the range of £120mn.
To clear the conception, parachute payments are paid by the Premier League, from the broadcast income, to relegated clubs to soften the blow and are calculated relative to the equal shares paid to PL clubs:
- Year 1 – 55%.
- Year 2 – 45%.
- Year 3 – 20%.
The other potentially higher increase in income could come from the commercial income stream combining income from sponsorship and other commercial avenues like merchandising, licensing etc. adding to the growth in revenue.
Since 20/21, both the clubs have reported a systematic increase in gross revenue, as given in separate charts.
Looking deeper, two other factors make the Premier League promotion all the more important:
- Profitability: Both the clubs have consistently reported losses after tax since 20/21 till 23/24. However, in 24/25 Ipswich Town had managed to turn profitable post results after one season in Premier League but they are expected to report significant losses in 25/26, especially after spending £129mn in transfer (£127mn net spend). The next jump could offset some of those. Coventry City had also reported profit after tax in 23/24 backed with a profits after player sales. The cumulative losses for each of the clubs from the period 21/22 to 24/25 are:
- Ipswich Town: -£72.5mn
- Coventry City: -£28.7mn
- Wages / Revenue Ratio: High wages-to-revenue (W/R) ratio is a constant factor plaguing most of the clubs in Championship division. Both the clubs had reported exorbitantly high W/R ratio since 20/21. Only in 24/25 did it reduce to a manageable value. With jump to the Premier League, where revenue increases significantly, the value is expected to be within the recommended 70%. That said, even the wages would substantially increase.
Economic Impact in Region
At the time of Ipswich Town’s promotion for the first time in 24/25, a local business leader had then said that ‘this promotion could ensure somewhere between £500 and £600 million worth of economic benefit to the area’. A BBC report released in May 2025 spoke of business increase in hospitality sector, especially in pubs to the tune of 20%-30%. However, that did not mean the same for other sectors like retail etc.
This time, residents and businesses are reportedly being encouraged to get behind their football team’s final promotion push by turning the town into a canvas of blue and white.
For Coventry City, the Premier League spotlight would certainly put the city back in international focus. A big factor is the presence of club’s manager Frank Lampard, Chelsea legend, an international star and fan favourite. A large portion of Chelsea’s fan base is connected with him and have an emotional soft corner which might just translate into an increasing number of fan visits.
An absolute number is difficult to predict but certainly the equation for a visible economic impact seems to be – once in the Premier League, keep winning to have a steady flow of international tourists and sponsorship opportunities.
Ownership
The two clubs have ownerships as different as chalk and cheese. While Ipswich Town’s ownership is US-based private equity backed, Coventry City is owned by a local city business man Doug King.
Ipswich Town: In 2021, US investment group Gamechanger 20 Limited took control of the club when it acquired majority stake in the club. The ownership composition:
- Ohio-based investment group ORG Portfolio Management: 50%
- Bright Path, a US private equity firm which specialises in professional sports franchises, invested “up to £105m” for a 40% minority stake: 44%
- Remaining shares split between 5% for Three Lions (businessmen Brett Johnson, Berke Bakay and Mark Detmer)
- 1% for Sheeran.
Coventry City: London-based hedge fund SISU Capital owned the club between 2007 to 2023, when local businessman Doug King bough 85% and then buying the remaining 15%.
In Conclusion
Promotion to the Premier League, in other words, is just half the battle won. The far bigger challenge and possibly the bigger goal is to retain the Premier League status. A study of the clubs promoted from EFL Championship in the last ten years shows as much as 60% (18) of the promoted clubs being relegated within 4 years and 43% (13) of them relegated in the following season itself.
The key would be to strike a balance between investments in squad strengthening to compete in the top league, infrastructure development and manage expenses to remain financially sustainable.
Wishing all the best to both the clubs.
