If you ask salespeople at Rolls-Royce dealerships which luxury car brands they see as competition, they will confidently say none, because they play in a different league compared to luxury yachts or jets. After all, RR is the undisputed number one, they have no doubt. In the ranking British Icon Index (Annual Report Publications), which examines the global popularity of selected British brands, however, the famous Rolls had to be content with only second place, and British universities still ended up on the “box”.
You guessed right. The first Premier League outperformed all the other brands surveyed “by a steamer” so to speak, performing particularly well in South East Asia and Africa. In addition, the vast majority of respondents said that in their eyes the football competition improves the image of Britain as a whole. If the empire is to survive, it cannot do without an army and a soccer ball.
A machine throwing money and opportunities
In short, the Premier League is a giant. The data for the season ending in spring 2022, for example, showed that the league, including players and employees, contributed 124 billion crowns to the state budget in direct taxes alone, or that it supported the creation of more than ninety thousand jobs in Britain alone. In addition, clubs increase their income year after year.
In the 2022/2023 season, they reached an astronomical six billion pounds, and another three hundred million more are expected from this season, she calculated Deloitte company. Most of the income is made up of broadcasting rights, since almost every fourth person on the planet interacts in some way with the league transmitted to most countries of the world through the media.
In addition, with that £6 billion-plus package, the Premier League trumps a number of high-profile sporting attractions. It easily surpasses Formula 1, the overseas NHL and competitive European football competitions led by the most prestigious, the Champions League.
It is not surprising that the accountants of the richest clubs manage budgets that would cover the Czech national debt with a little effort. However, unlike “competitive” European competitions, the island league is also distinguished by the wealth of clubs from the middle and bottom of the table. Only the players currently belonging to Nottingham Forest, the worst-placed non-relegated club from last season, have a market value of €366 million, Transfermarkt.com estimates.
For comparison in this category: the roster of the Spanish Vallecano is supposed to be worth 60 million euros, the German Union Berlin 130 million, the Italian Empoli 56 million. The current squads of Sparta and Slavia, the richest Czech clubs, are valued by the portal at 72 and 88 million euros, respectively.
Billions vs. smart strategy
Despite the aforementioned, the author of the text allows himself two bolder claims. First: it’s not just about the money… and second: … as Manchester City proves. The club was bought in August 2008 by Sheikh Mansour, the vice president of the United Arab Emirates, whose family is said to control a fortune worth about one trillion dollars. The new owner is investing astronomical resources in the blue part of Manchester, be it in the purchase of elite players, staff or facilities, but that alone would definitely not be enough for success.
London’s Chelsea spent the most funds on new players over the past five seasons – including the starting one – at 849 million pounds, the portal reports Football365. In the last two seasons, she finished very unsuccessfully in sixth and then twelfth position. A similar story is written by Manchester United, with spending exceeding half a billion pounds and placing in third and last year in eighth position. However, the Red Devils can only dream about the achievements of their hated rival, Manchester City.
The Citizens have shown in recent years that a massive budget can qualify a club among a select group of the most ambitious in Europe. But you are still competing with an increasingly numerous competition from among the “infinitely” rich. Who from the elite group reaches the very top is decided much more by honest football work than money.
Successful business models, on the other hand, are practiced by smaller clubs with lower budgets. They invest money and effort mainly in quality scouting, bringing in quality players with potential for relatively small amounts who will fit perfectly into the system and arouse the interest of greedy rich people from the upper levels of the table. The young Ecuadorian Moisés Caicedo represented exactly such an investment. The talented footballer was bought by Brighton from South America for 4 million euros in 2021, and sold to Chelsea for 116 million last summer. There would be many more similar examples.
Damn accurate bets
The Czechs and the betting offices focused on them also enjoy the stories in a big way, for which the Premier League is by far the most bet football competition, which is constantly growing. Five years ago, Tipsport bettors bet half a billion crowns on these matches, last season the bets were triple. Last year, Tipsport players bet one billion on the Czech league – for comparison – a similar amount as on the German, Spanish or Italian league. The Premier League was ahead of them by about half a billion.
“There are several reasons for its popularity – with exceptions, the best players work in it, they play the most attractive football in great stadiums, everything is supported by excellent marketing. We can compare England’s living football tradition with, for example, hockey in Canada,” says Tipsport spokesman Václav Sochor.
The “significant” lead of the Premier League in the interest of bettors is confirmed by the spokesman of rival Fortuna, Petr Šrain: “The popularity can be partly attributed to the fact that bettors are a little more successful in the composition of tickets than in the case of other leagues. Considering the evenness of the competition, this is perhaps surprising, but on the other hand, it just goes to show that Premier League punters really care. They honestly follow the statistics and analyze the form of the teams, which helps them make the right decisions.”
Interest in the island phenomenon in the Czech Republic was strengthened by legends such as Petr Čech at Chelsea, Tomáš Rosický at Arsenal or Vladimír Šmicer at Liverpool, who are currently followed mainly by the ex-Slavic duo Tomáš Souček and Vladimír Coufal at London’s West Ham United.
If you want to watch not only their matches in the famous competition on TV, you have to subscribe to Canal+ Sport from 239 crowns a month. The French company has reached an agreement with the owner of the television rights of the English league until 2028. The rise of the Premier League is also evidenced by the level of television studies with which Canal+ entertains viewers before, during and after the match.
A regular part of the media content is exclusive interviews with players and coaches or live inputs from reporters directly from the playing surface in the stadiums. The Czech viewer has probably never had such a service. O2TV from the PPF group was also interested in broadcasting the Premier League, but was unable to obtain the rights. However, it recently added “at least” lower English competitions to its portfolio.
Legends with your own eyes
Travel agencies are also targeting fans for whom two hours in front of the TV is not enough. For example, Czechsporttravel offers organized multi-day trips to league matches for less than tens of thousands of crowns. For example, a trip to the first home match of the London Arsenal season starts at 44,000 including airfare, accommodation and insurance.
Since 1992, football players from 121 countries have participated in the “production” of the breathtaking show, which is why the competition scores across the planet, despite time zones. Will Manchester City win their fifth title in a row? Or will Arsenal enjoy the Champions Cup for the first time since 2004 and Thierry Henry’s rampage? The odds of both scenarios are listed by bookmakers at less than three to one.
The single-digit odds – 9 – are attributed only to Liverpool, who are writing a new chapter in the club’s history without the highly successful coach Jürgen Klopp. The overall winner will be decided in the early evening of May 25, 2025 at the latest, and the points distributed may also decide this Friday, when the football players of Manchester United and Fulham will take care of the kick-off.
