Celtic receive £4.52m as SPFL reveals record turnover and fee payments to clubs

Celtic receive a record fee of £4.52m from the SPFL for winning the Scottish Premiership last season…

The SPFL’s recent annual accounts disclose the highest ever turnover and subsequent payout to clubs with Celtic receiving the highest ever sum paid out to the Scottish Champions.

The SPFL’s latest figures reveal turnover has risen by £2.4 million (6%), from last year’s previous record high of £41.9 million.

The increase has been primarily driven by the league’s new Sky Sports TV deal, as well as revenue growth from the SPFL’s other domestic and overseas broadcasting agreements.

The figures also reveal fee payments to clubs have increased by £2 million to £33.7 million – another 6% increase, with total group distributions to clubs totalling £37.9 million, up from last year’s £35.8 million.

“We’re really proud to announce record turnover and fee payments to our member clubs today as we continue to build on the strong income growth and commercial deals in recent years,” Neil Doncaster, SPFL group chief executive, said via the official SPFL website.

Doncaster added: “Given the challenging market and economic conditions right now, these encouraging results reinforce the huge popularity of Scottish football, as well as the level of interest this generates with our broadcasters and our increasing roster of partners.

“In recent months, we’ve agreed a major new title sponsorship deal with William Hill, as well as a new TV contract with Premier Sports. The SPFL has just reported significantly higher attendances per capita than any other European league in a new UEFA report, and whilst we’ll never be complacent, these results give us a strong foundation upon which to further improve our performance.”

Murdoch MacLennan, SPFL chairman, said: “These latest annual results are testament to the hard work and talent of the SPFL’s member clubs and to the efforts of the dedicated team at the SPFL, which works tirelessly on their behalf. “We are extremely pleased to be able to provide our members with the highest annual distributions in the history of Scottish league football and thank our members for their vigorous support.”

These sums do NOT include income from the Scottish Cup for tickets and broadcasting as that is under the remit of the Scottish FA and is therefore paid separately.