How much Sunderland will gain following promotion to the Championship and what it could cost to be competitive

The Black Cats beat Wycombe 2-0 at Wembley in the League One play-off final, courtesy of goals from Elliot Embleton and Ross Stewart, which ended a four-year stay in League One.

Sunderland’s financial accounts for the 2020/21 season were released last month and revealed the club made an operating loss of £11.7million during the last campaign.

While this season’s figures won’t be released for another 12 months, revenue streams have improved due to the return of fans in stadiums, while promotion to the Championship will also result in more income.

“It’s nowhere near as much as the jump from the Championship to the Premier League unfortunately,” Dr Daniel Plumley, of Sheffield Hallam University, told the Echo when asked about promotion from League One. “That is driven by TV money whichever way you cut it.

“With the Premier League TV money even if you finish bottom you are going to get £100million minimum and you can probably add on a bit of that from comercial deals and parachute payments.

“The jump from League One into the Championship also has a TV link but it is nowhere near as much. Estimates would be around £8million total for promotion from League One to the Championship and that is linked to the Premier League TV deal.

“As things currently stand each Championship club, not in receipt of parachute payments, receives about £5-6million from the TV pot. The equivalent in League One is like £800,000 to £1million.”

More revenue from TV money

Last month’s accounts revealed that Sunderland’s television and media revenue for the 2020/21 season was £5.4million, following the end of the club’s Premier League parachute payments.

“It’s tough to get a read on that because obviously the landscape was different with games being played behind closed doors,” added Plumley.

“The deal at the minute means each Championship club will get around £6million from the TV pot, obviously you can top that up a little bit with the number of times teams are on TV because each individual match has a fee for the club which you can add on.

“Going on a conservative estimate you are just looking at a guaranteed amount and then you can add a little bit on from there.”

The other area where Sunderland could make financial gains in the Championship is through comercial deals and increased matchday attendances.

“You’d anticipate some extra comercial deals or potentially being able to leverage commercial activity a little bit more because you are in a league that is higher up and will get more exposure," explained Plumley. ”You could add a couple of million on there conservatively, especially for a club like Sunderland.

“Matchday is obviously a tricky one because Sunderland have had big crowds in League One, so you’d normally see an uplift in matchday attendance but we already know Sunderland are well supported so that might not be as huge as for other clubs.

“Around a £8-10million difference would be a realistic benchmark for a club like Sunderland to get out of League One and into the Championship.”

Sunderland will have to spend more to competitive

Promotion will also provide challenges for Sunderland, though, with clubs spending more money to try and reach the Premier League.

Sunderland spent around £11.9million on wages during the 2020/21 campaign, yet many in the second tier, especially those with parachute payments, are paying significantly more.

“It’s the other side of the coin,” said Plumley. “How much do you need to invest to compete in the Championship and what are your aspirations?

“Obviously Sunderland will have very high aspirations given where they’ve been but they will have to adjust to that league and set their targets accordingly.

“Do wages go up because of the type of player you are attracting and type of player you maybe want to keep hold of and maybe offer them better terms?

“Increased revenue as you go through the leagues goes hand in hand with increase in cost, trying to balance that is obviously key.

“It’s massively distorted in the Championship because you have clubs with parachute payments which are a big issue in that league.

“It’s not unusual in that league to have clubs spending £40-50million on wages in a year whereas some clubs will be a lot lower in the region of £5-10million.

“You have a problem in that league with parachute payments distorting the wage bills and that obviously is a problem for clubs coming up.”

Alex Neil’s position at Sunderland

Sunderland boss Alex Neil has also highlighted the step up in quality Sunderland will face in the Championship next season.

“I'm not suggesting anything other than I want to be at Sunderland. I want to be here, I want to take it forward,” said Neil after the play-off final.

“There's massive scope for us but you need to understand that you're going up to a new level. There's a lot of hard work at that level, it has teams coming down with parachute payments, guys on a lot of money scoring 40 goals.

“It's a tough, tough level, so we just need to sit down and have a talk about what we need to do next.

He added: “There's got to be work, investment, different facets that can make you competitive.

“If you're doing a job, you want the tools and I'm no different.

“That's where we're at.”