Arsenal were the big winners in the Premier League making over £100m from broadcasting revenue for the first time.

The North London side made £100,952,257 for the 2015/16 season, £7.7m more than champions Leicester City.

The figures released to by the Premier League show the value of the central income payments made to its clubs for the 2015/16 season.

Arsenal had 27 games broadcast live throughout the season, 12 more than Leicester and one more than Manchester United who had 26 games broadcast live.

Despite finishing one place below Sunderland and being relegated to the Championship, Newcastle United made £72.8m, £1m more than their North East rivals having 3 more games broadcast through the season at 16.

In total, £1,638,805,918 was distributed among the 20 clubs.

The mechanism for distributing this revenue is the most equitable of Europe’s major football leagues and is based on the Premier League Founder Members’ Agreement, the contract signed by the initial clubs that formed the League in 1992.

It has resulted in a ratio of 1.52:1 between the club finishing top and that finishing bottom in 2015/16, the lowest such ratio in the history of the Premier League, and works as follows:

• 50% of UK broadcast revenue split equally between the 20 clubs
• 25% of UK broadcast revenue paid in Merit Payments (“Prize Money” per place in the table)
• 25% of UK broadcast revenue paid in Facility Fees each time a club’s matches are broadcast in the UK.
• All international broadcast revenue, and central commercial revenue, is split equally among the 20 clubs.

From next season (2016/17) the club that finishes bottom is likely to receive more than Arsenal has this season as the new record breaking TV rights deal comes into effect. However, critics fear that not enough money is filtering down into the lower leagues. 

Action Images Reuters / Stefan Wermuth Livepic