PREMIER LEAGUE CEO Richard Masters received a pay rise of over 30 per cent with a £1million bonus, accounts show.
Masters has worked within the Premier League since 2006, starting off as director of sales and marketing.
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Premier League CEO Richard Masters received a 30 per cent pay rise Credit: Getty
The top flight chief also collected a £1bn bonus after helping to broker a major broadcasting deal Credit: Getty
He has held his current role as chief executive since 2019 and has had to deal with a number of obstacles, including the football shutdown during Covid and the European Super League saga.
The Premier League’s accounts on Companies House showed that Masters’ salary has increased by 33 per cent to £2.63m a year, including bonuses.
And figures show long-term incentives bumped up his salary by just over £1m after helping to broker the league’s huge £6.7billion deal with broadcasters in 2023.
The £1m bonus is around double the amount he received the previous year.
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Masters’ salary is not out of the ordinary compared to other top executives in the world of sport.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell took home £47m last year, as reported by Forbes.
The accounts also showed the league’s operating expenses hit a record £556m in 2024-25.
Its legal bill in 2023-24 was £48m – which was six times higher than its initial budget – after being involved in high profile cases against Everton, Nottingham Forest and the ‘trial of the century’ with Man City.
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The Premier League accounts referenced their legal battle with Man City without specifying a timeframe for a verdict Credit: PA
However, legal costs did fall slightly to £44.6m in the following year, according to a report by the Times.
The Premier League charged Man City with 130 breaches of their financial rules in February 2023, with no news on the situation more than three years on.
The case into the alleged breaches was heard by an independent commission and started in September 2024, finishing two months later.
The accounts do mention the legal battle with Man City, but makes no indication over a time scale for the verdict.
They state: “In February 2023, the Premier League referred a number of alleged breaches of its rules by Manchester City FC to an independent commission under rule W.3.4.
“The proceedings before the commission were heard during the current financial year.”
