IT is one of the most valuable games in world football with the riches of the Premier League at stake.

And while both sides in Sunday’s Championship play-off final are no strangers to the top division, the result on Sunday is guaranteed to change the fortunes of both teams.

Whoever stays in the Championship out of Saints or Leeds will benefit from their second year of parachute payments and a share of a new five-year English Football League deal with Sky Sports.

But the winners will rejoin the elite of British football as one of the 20 equal shareholders of the Premier League and take a share of the billions of pounds earned from UK and overseas broadcast rights.

While the current three-year UK television deal, estimated to be worth a total of £5bn, ends next season, a new four-year agreement with Sky, TNT and BBC Sport, starting in 2025-26, will keep annual league earnings at around £1.67bn a year, or £6.7bn for the total contract.

Under the new package, Sky will transmit at least 215 live matches each season with TNT picking up a further 52 games. For the first time, all Premier League matches kicking off outside of 3pm on Saturday will be broadcast live.

Here is how Premier League UK broadcast revenue is shared out amongst clubs: Half the revenue, known as the Basic Award, is shared equally between teams after the allocation of parachute payments to clubs relegated in the past three years and still in the Championship.

The remaining balance is split equally between Merit and Facilities payments, which are proportionally awarded based on the final league table position and the number of live television appearances respectively.

Overseas income, which is estimated to be of similar annual value to UK rights, is generally shared equally with an excess being allocated on merit.

The above structure saw Saints earn nearly £108m and Leeds £111m from broadcast revenue during their last seasons in the Premier League. At the same time, title winners Manchester City picked up £185m.

Meanwhile, the new 2024-25 to 2028-29 season deal with the EFL will see Sky broadcast a minimum of 328 Championship matches a season as part of their guaranteed total payment to the whole EFL of £895m, plus £40m in marketing benefits, over the full contract.

Relegated Premier League teams receive parachute payments worth 55 per cent of the combined Basic Award for UK and overseas income in the first year, 45 per cent in the second year and 20 per cent in the third year.

Under these arrangements, Saints are likely to have already collected around £50m in 2023-24 and could still expect around £40m next season if they stay in the Championship.

The club’s financial statements for the year ended 30 June 2024 will also include the value of player sale and purchase agreements, which the club has already disclosed for the period to the end of the January 2024 transfer window as “a net transaction value of £111m receivable” compared to a £100.5m payable for the same period the year before.