The most watched sporting competition in the world, the Premier League model is all about football. The Premier League operates in a ‘virtuous circle’. It invests in the best football players and facilities, which creates maximum interest with the fans, the media and organisations wanting to partner with us. In turn this converts to commercial success with sponsors, broadcasters and new markets. That money the Premier League then responsibly distributes to the clubs and their communities, both home and abroad for projects such as Premier Skills. And the circle starts again as that money is invested in the best football players and facilities.

At its most basic the Premier League is the lead competition in English football. Developed following years on under investment in stadia and playing talent, the League played its first season in 1992/93 and was originally composed of 22 clubs, but in 1995/96 the League was reduced to its current number of 20 clubs.

Widely regarded as the elite club competition in world football, the Premier League is owned by it 20 shareholders - the member clubs, whose membership in the League is dependent on the performance of their football team in the Barclays Premier League. A total of 42 teams have competed in the Premier League and been shareholders. There have been four winners of the Premier League: Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers, Arsenal and Chelsea. Since the 2001/02 season competition to win the Premier League has been fierce, with the title holders changing hands five times.

The 2007/08 season was a landmark one: Manchester United won the title for a record tenth time, there were the highest average top-flight attendances for over 50 years, and there was an all English UEFA Champions League final for the first time ever. It underlined the fact that the Premier League was financially strong and performing well on the pitch.

It is no accident that Premier League clubs find themselves in this position, the collective selling of the Premier League’s media rights and the equitable distribution of broadcast and sponsorship revenue throughout the League provides the stability to invest, whilst rewarding success.

The quality of Premier League football has stimulated interest in broadcast markets, at home and abroad, as fans increasingly identify Barclays Premier League matches as destination TV. Television has always been central to the Premier League model, from the early days of taking the radical step of assigning television rights to Sky to the last domestic deal to televise matches from 2007-2010, where Sky Sports and Setanta paid £1.7billion for the rights. Around the world the Premier League has 39 live broadcast licensees, screening the Premier League in 211
territories. In the 2007/08 season some 662 million homes across the globe received nearly 90,000 hours of Barclays Premier League coverage.

Sponsorship and licensing deals have also played a major role in the development of the Premier League. In 1993 Carling paid £1 million for four years and the competition became known as the FA Carling Premiership. They renewed for another four years paying a 300% increase. In 2001 Barclaycard became the new sponsors for £48million over three years. Barclays took over in 2004 with their renewal price in 2007 at £65.8million for three seasons. Additionally, the Premier League has official partners in Nike, Budweiser, Lucozade Sport and Wrigleys Extra, and licensees in EA Sports, Sporting iD and Topps Merlin.

The grassroots of the game are hugely important to the Premier League. The Premier League invests in the players of tomorrow and are funding a new generation of facilities. It provides a third of the Football Foundation’s annual core funding of £45million along with The FA and the UK Government.

Under the Creating Chances umbrella brand Premier League clubs are at the heart of their communities and the Premier League uses the power of football to engage children and young people in the participation of sport and in intervention programmes which address key social issues. Football has the ability to engage, motivate and inspire people to achieve so the Premier League, taking its social responsibility seriously, has invested £122m per annum as a commitment to benefit all sectors of the community. Additionally the Premier League has an International Good Causes programme, of which Premier Skills is the centrepiece.

But the ‘virtuous circle’ is the rationale that underpins everything the Premier League does. It starts and finishes with football; everything else – the fans, the sponsors, the broadcasters, even Premier Skills – flow from that. Football is what the Premier League is all about.