Football: Manchester United take home more prizemoney than English Premier League winners Manchester City

Manchester City players celebrate with the Premier League Trophy. Photo / AP

Manchester City's stunning and record-breaking Premier League title win in Pep Guardiola's second season as a manager in England earned them almost £150million in prize cash, with official figures released showing they have pocketed £149,438,654 (NZ$293.6m) from central funds alone.

The money comes primarily from the league's huge TV deals but also includes City's share of the league's central commercial income. But the way in which the cash is distributed means City actually take home less than rivals Manchester United, who earn £149,767,145 (NZ$294m). United receive more because they had two more live TV games (28) in the UK than City (26).

City were the second highest earners, followed by Liverpool (£145,904,609) then Tottenham (£144,446,238).

Liverpool earned more than Tottenham despite finishing lower in the table because they had more games shown live on TV in the UK - and more TV games means more money in the payments system.

Chelsea, with £141.7m, and Arsenal, with £142m were the only other club earning more than £140m. The lowest earning club, bottom of the table West Brom, have to settle for 'only' £94.7m.

The 20 clubs between them have split a staggering £2.42 billion ($NZ4.76b) this season, from annual Premier League income that is now more than £3bn a year, the vast majority from TV deals either at home or from overseas.

City's money was made up of £38,625,360 'merit' cash for finishing top of the table, £30,390,736 in 'facility fees' for being shown in 26 live TV games in the UK, plus equal shares of the domestic TV deal, overseas TV deals and commercial income from the league's sponsors.

Sky and BT Sport are paying £5.136bn between them to show Premier League matches live in the UK across three seasons from 2016 to 2019 inclusive. Foreign broadcasters around the world are paying more than £3bn combined, on top, for the same period.

The Premier League also earns money from the sales of highlights (on Match of the Day in the UK), near-live rights, clip rights, and brings in further sums from commercial deals. All that cash goes into one big pot and the sums announced are the eye-watering rewards for the clubs.

For 2017-18 every club gets an 'equal' share of just over £80.4m derived from domestic TV income, overseas income and commercial income, with specifics in our accompanying table.

Every club then gets another sum depending on league position, worth £1,931,268 per place in the table. This is actually down very slightly on last year for reasons that are not yet clear, although the Premier League has paid out more in 'parachute' money (to relegated clubs) this year than 12 months ago.

A year ago parachute payments were £219m split between eight clubs and this time they are almost £243m split between eight clubs. Sunderland, Hull and Middlesbrough each get £41.57m this time while Aston Villa and Norwich (£34m each) and Cardiff, Fulham and QPR (£16.6m) also benefit).