Premier League £3.26bn income dwarfs other countries
The Premier League made £1.4billion more than the second highest grossing league, the Bundesliga in 2013-24
Financial services firm Deloitte say the English top flight brought in £3.26billion in 2013-14, putting the likes of the Bundeliga, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1 in its shadow.
TV rights deals were the main source of income for the English clubs, with Dan Jones, partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, saying: "The impact of the Premier League's broadcast deal is clear to see.
"Broadcast income increased by £569million in 2013-14, accounting for 78 per cent of the overall growth in revenue in the Premier League. Continued growth in both commercial and matchday revenue helped Premier League clubs' combined revenues reach £3.26billion - a staggering increase of £735million compared with the season before.
"In 2013-14 even the Premier League club receiving the least from domestic league broadcast distributions earned more from this source than all but five other European clubs.
"Following recent announcements of commercial deals for a host of the largest clubs, we expect the Premier League to surpass the Bundesliga in commercial revenue terms and hence lead the world in all three key revenue categories from 2014-15."
With a new domestic television rights deal worth a combined £5.3billion due to come on stream in 2016 - and with more to come from overseas rights - the world's richest league is set to get wealthier as it continues to outstrip its rivals.
Another consequence of the increased TV revenue was that it pushed down the wages-to-turnover ratio at England's top-flight clubs.
Twelve months ago analysts at Deloitte warned against "reckless" spending as the ratio topped 70 per cent for the first time.
However, following the first year of a new television deal, and clubs continuing to adjust to Financial Fair Play regulations, that figure fell to 58 per cent - the lowest level since the 1998-99 season. Thirteen of the 20 Premier League clubs in 2013-14 had wages-to-revenue ratios at 60 per cent or lower, compared to just one the previous year.
Total Premier League wages rose by £119million to £1.9billion in 2013-14, a seven per cent increase against a 29 per cent leap in revenue - the first time since 2007-08 that wage costs have increased at a slower rate than revenue.
"Premier League clubs showed relative restraint in terms of wage costs, with less than 20 per cent of their revenue growth being absorbed by wage costs," Jones added.