Sunderland could be in line to gain £198 million from just one season in the Premier League after clinching promotion.

That’s according to leading football finance expert Kieran Maguire, who explained to the Sunderland Echo how promotion would unlock a huge increase in revenue.

Even a single season in the top flight will lead to increases in broadcast rights, commercial deals and matchday income.

“If we take a look at Sunderland’s broadcast revenue, if we start off there, they’re probably getting around about £8.5million to £9million from the EFL and the solidarity payments from the Premier League,” Maguire told The Echo.

“Sheffield United finished bottom of the Premier League last season and they got £109million. That’s likely to have gone up by next season if Sunderland are promoted.

“So I think it will probably be in the region of £111million or £112million. So that’s good news for the club and on top of that, you’ve got solidarity payments.

“Worst case scenario, if Sunderland go straight down, then it’s probably a further £80million.

“That’s £190million to begin with, in terms of the financial benefit. If we then look at the other sources of income, your commercial deal, front of shirt deal, which in the Championship, if Sunderland are getting £500k at the moment, that’s good.

“You can add a zero to that and more. You’re probably looking in the region of £7million to £8million for the front of shirt and then your third source of income is match day.

“You’ll be able to charge more for games, but I don’t think the club will go down the route of upping prices significantly for regular fans, but for the commercial and hospitality sector, you’ll be able to charge premium prices.

“If you’ve got Liverpool, Manchester United, City, Arsenal, Chelsea coming to town because people want to be able to entertain their guests and no disrespect, it’s a lot easier to sell those tickets if it’s clubs of that calibre compared to Swansea at home on a Tuesday night.”

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