Arsenal signed off their 2020/21 Premier League campaign with a 2-0 home victory against Brighton & Hove Albion.
Despite holding up their end of the deal on winning on the final day, results elsewhere meant three points wasn’t enough for a place in Europe, and Arsenal subsequently miss out on European competition for the first time in 25 years.
Nicolas Pepe’s brace on the afternoon made it a positive note to end the season on, but Mikel Arteta will overall be disappointed to finish the campaign in eighth place.
So just how much does missing out on Europe cost Arsenal?
Based on last season’s figures, each finishing position in the league is worth between £2m to £4m extra in merit payments and a little extra in overseas broadcasting revenue.
Video Unavailable
In 2019/20 Liverpool earned a merit payment of £35.5m for winning the league, with 20th-placed Norwich City receiving only £1.8m.
The overseas broadcasting income, meanwhile, has been worked out differently since the start of the 2019 contract cycle, varying in value based on position.
That meant Liverpool banked just over £70m, according to estimates from Swiss Ramble, while bottom-placed Norwich ended up with £44.6m.
Chelsea finished fourth and made £67.1m, with fifth-placed Spurs getting £64.3m and Arsenal £61.5m for ending up sixth.
All 20 clubs are awarded an equal payment based on revenues from current TV and radio deals. Last season it was worth £31.8m per club, with additional facility fee payments based on how many times a team is shown live.
Liverpool earned £31m from facility fees last season. Chelsea made £26.8m, Tottenham £27.8m and Arsenal £26.8m. Crystal Palace and West Ham banked only £13.4m and £17.5m respectively.
But with every Premier League game this season being televised due to the pandemic it is unclear how those payments will be broken down.
Last season merit payments saw the top six sides earn the following amounts:
1st £35.5m
2nd £33.8m
3rd £32m
4th £30.2m
5th £26.6m
6th £23.1m
7th £28.4m
8th £24.9m
9th £21.3m
10th £16m
Do you want all the latest news from around Arsenal Football Club straight to your email inbox?
Of course you do.
By signing up for our Arsenal newsletter, you will receive a twice-daily email, focused on all the latest news from the Emirates Stadium.
And, not only that, but you will get exclusive content from our club writers Chris Wheatley and Kaya Kaynak before anyone else.
You won’t miss a thing when it comes to the Gunners.
How do you sign up?
It’s easy and only takes seconds.
Simply type your email address into the box at the top of this article – or any article on the Arsenal section of football.london in fact – labelled ‘Get the biggest daily stories by email’ and click ‘Subscribe’.
Alternatively, you can click here and tick the Arsenal box to subscribe for our Gunners newsletter.
If you decide later that you no longer wish to receive the emails, simply follow the unsubscribe link in one of the newsletters – but we don’t think you’ll want to.
These figures are all subject to change because of the pandemic, though it is estimated that seventh place would earn in the region of £20m.
As clubs continue to battle with the financial fallout of COVID-19, the difference between finishing seventh and ninth could make a big difference.
football.london previously reported that the Gunners will target as many as five players this transfer window as Arteta plans a rebuild at the club.