Champions League could mean windfall for Liverpool FC

Not only will Liverpool FC reap rewards, but the entire Mersey could see a payday.

Now that it’s all over and Liverpool FC got the win it needed … no … the win it desperately wanted … fans have an entire summer to speculate on transfers.

More importantly, the talk surrounding the Champions League can finally heat up. After having a 3-year hiatus from Champions League football, Reds’ fans are excited to say the least.

Let’s not kid ourselves. Getting back into the Champions League is a big deal. Players are attracted to you, the atmosphere around the team is more like that of an out-of-control keg party.

The real deal here is one thing … money.

Britain exiting Europe and Liverpool FC back in it, just saying pic.twitter.com/Oe0Sd6Tovz
— Kloppite* (@stevesum61) May 22, 2017

Mersey benefits

Take into account, the deeper the Reds go in the league, the more midweek games at Anfield. Meaning … more money spent on tickets, food, lodging and … yep … booze.

"“With the Champions League, because you tend to have better teams qualifying for it, their fans are more likely to travel and that will be a boost for the local hospitality and tourism industry in the city,” said University of Liverpool football finance lecturer Kieran Maguire to the Liverpool Echo recently. “If Liverpool gets to the final then it could bring £25m-£30m support to the area. From the point of view of tourism, taxis, hotels, bars – they’ll all be very pleased.”"

Of course they’ll all be pleased.

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/status/866603425739526145

However, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. Liverpool FC will have to get through its initial playoff to get to the group stage and earn those extra games. It will be only the second time in eight years the Reds have advanced to group play.

So, let’s say for a sec the Reds get to the group stage. What kind of money are we talking about?

The two ways for getting paid in the Champions League is by performance or by TV rights.

Performance bonus

With the first, the deeper you go, the more you get. That money comes from a pool and this season, the pool was approximately €761.9 million.

Oh, the TV money

With television, there is another pool — about €507 million this year — and it is split based on television market. This will favor places like Liverpool because the television market in the Premier League is much larger than several others.

Total Sportek reported in January UEFA increased prize money by 15 percent for 2016/17. Here’s their breakdown of the payout from the performance fixed amount:

STAGE	Total Fixed Amount: €761.9 million
Playoff Bonus	€50 million distributed to 20 teams who participated in playoffs. €2m each for playoff winners and €3 million each for eliminated teams.
Participation Bonus	€12.7 million (Guaranteed) for each 32 teams who play in the group stages
Performance Bonus	€1.5 million for every win & €500,000 for every draw in group stages
Round of 16	€6 million each for 16 teams
Quarter Finals	€6.5 million each for 8 teams
Semifinals	€7.5 million each for 4 teams
Runner Ups	€11 million
Final	€15.5 million
Potential Total	Winner of 2016-17 champions league can earn between €54m to €57.2m from “Fixed Amount” pot. Plus Market pool money which can easily elevate total earnings of winners from England, Spain, Germany or Italy around €100 million (prize money + market pool)

As for the television money, an English club would have won €50m/€60m with market pool if they won the title.

Of course, a loss in the playoff would only yield about €3 million, give or take. That could be more if they go deep in the Europa League.

Next: Liverpool save Tottenham from themselves

Regardless of how the Reds fare, they and the Mersey will definitely see a strong benefit from qualification.