Footballers’ wages

Ten key stages

Since professionalism was legalised in 1885, footballers’ wages have grown from a basic wage of £4 a week at the end of the nineteenth century to hundreds of thousands of pounds each week for top-level players in the English Premier League. Premier League clubs, backed by multinational sponsors and the riches of Sky TV and BT Sport, can now afford to pay footballers at levels previously associated with film and music stars

Commercialisation of sport
Post World War II (1950 to present)
PE Review
Industrial and post-industrial (1780–1900)
Sport and society

• Television income: Premier League income has risen from £191 million for the 5-year Sky deal running from 1992 to 1997 up to £5.136 billion for the 3-year Sky Sports/BT Sport deal running from 2016 to 2019.

• Sponsorship deals: Adidas is paying Manchester United £750 million for a shirt sponsorship deal from 2015 to 2025 (i.e. £75 million a year over the next 10 years).