Prize money in Europe: how much is a title in the best national leagues worth? / New
Winning the title after a grueling 10-month season is the ultimate goal for most basketball players in Europe. But it’s also a nice way to earn extra money for their teams.
BasketNews has researched the Top 9 major domestic leagues in Europe and the trophy bonuses their champions receive.
The size of the bonuses varies from competition to competition. Only a few leagues have an obvious price to play. But in most cases, the league rewards teams equally from money generated from TV deals and sponsorships.
The Spanish basketball league is by far the most profitable in Europe.
Since 2015, La Liga Endesa has doubled its revenue which has soared above 30 million euros. It also had a significant impact on the distribution of income among all teams in the Spanish league.
The La Liga Endesa winners receive a slightly higher percentage of revenue than other teams, around €900,000 (prize money and revenue share combined), according to BasketNews’ sources.
Most revenue in Spain comes from television rights. According to 2playbook.com, in the 2019-20 season, total television revenue reached €13.1 million, compared to €4.5 million in the 2014-15 season.
This is the highest growth among all financial categories in the Liga Endesa.
The Greek basketball league also has a rich television contract with public television ERT.
In Greece, bonuses are paid based on final league standings and TV ratings.
Thus, the top Greek teams, Olympiacos Piraeus and Panathinaikos Athens, receive up to 1 million euros, according to BasketNews sources. Others receive around €500,000 in total and less.
The title bonus is worth around an additional €100,000, sources tell BasketNews.
In Turkey, all teams get their share based on their season’s final standings. According to BasketNews sources, the Turkish league winners receive around €400,000 for the whole season.
By way of comparison, eleven Lithuanian basketball league teams shared a record pool of €554.5k in bonuses based on standings in the standings. New LKL champion Rytas Vilnius landed €76.5k.
Israeli league playoff teams receive a bonus based on their final standings, ranging from €110,000 for first place to €35,000 for 6-8 places, according to BasketNews.
But regardless of position in the standings, each of the twelve Winner League teams receives €600,000. The Winner League has received over €10 million in sponsorships and TV rights.
Half of the big domestic leagues, including Germany, Italy, France and the Adriatic league, have no extra financial incentive to end the season on a high.
The German and Italian leagues have a pot evenly split between all teams.
For example, German clubs receive around €250,000 each (18 teams). The Italian teams share half the income of the Germans (up to €125,000 for 16 teams).
The Adriatic and French leagues do not give bonuses or share income between participants.
It was a different case in France before, but their massive TV deal collapsed a few years ago, costing them millions.
| League | Title bonus | League earnings |
| Spain | 0k€ | The winner receives around €900,000, slightly more than the other teams |
| Greece | €100k | PAO and OLY get up to €1m each, with the rest based on the final standings |
| Israel | €110k | Playoff teams receive bonuses + each team receives approximately €600,000 |
| Turkey | 0 €k | The winners receive approximately €400,000, the prize pool is distributed according to the final ranking |
| Lithuania | €76k | The teams shared a record pool of €554,500 based on the final standings |
| Germany | €0 | Each team receives approximately €250,000 |
| Italy | €0 | Each team receives approximately €125,000 |
| ABA | €0 | €0 |
| France | €0 | €0 |
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