Blackpool and Cardiff City are set for the biggest day in the history of both their clubs as they prepare for today’s Championship playoff final at Wembley. For both sides it is a chance to make history by joining English football’s elite clubs in the Premier League for the first time in their history.
As well as providing the chance to ply their trade with the biggest clubs in the country and rub shoulders with some of the worlds greatest players, the match is said to be the most lucrative in world football - with the winning side expected to make up to £90 million through prize money, increased gate revenues, merchandising and TV cash. Increased parachute payments for the promoted club should they be relegated the following season also makes the Championship playoff final a game like no other in domestic football.
The financial benefits of victory today are surely not lost on Cardiff City who have faced a protracted period of financial uncertainty under former Chairman Peter Ridsdale - who has recently stepped aside from his role - with the club having faced no less than 4 winding up orders from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs for an unpaid tax bill reportedly to be in the region of £1.9 million pounds.
For Blackpool too the financial benefits of joining English football's elite must be spellbinding - a club who’s Bloomfield Road ground still sports temporary seating down one side of the pitch and a very recently completed stand behind the goal at the pleasure beach end. Victory today would also see the Lancashire club make astonishing progress from Football League 2 to the top flight in the space of just nine years.
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