How much less money Plymouth Argyle, Cardiff City and Luton would get if relegated to League One | OneFootball

The financial implications of Championship relegation for the current bottom three, with significant losses projected.

League One relegation is looming for a range of sides, with just six matches remaining of the Championship campaign.

As it stands, Plymouth Argyle, Luton Town and Cardiff City occupy the bottom three, but with only five points separating 16th and 22nd, that could all change.

Relegation would prove costly for any of the sides who suffer that fate come the end of the season as League One teams receive significantly less money than their Championship counterparts.

Large divide between Championship and League One clubs

The Premier League's current deal with the EFL means that they send around £350million down the Football League in parachute and solidarity payments, according to The Athletic.

How much does that work out per club?

In the Championship, each club receives £5.19million in solidarity money, while League One sides get £780,000 each and League Two teams get £520,000 each.

The EFL also distributes money between its 72 clubs from its central income, with £3.92million given to Championship clubs, £950,000 given to League One outfits and £640,000 given to League Two teams.

Due to their relegation from the Premier League last season, the Hatters currently receive £49million in parachute payments, according to The Times, which will drop to £39million next season.

What this means is that the trio who face relegation this season will lose £7.38million from the Premier League and EFL combined, while Luton will receive £10million less in parachute payments.

Analysing Plymouth, Cardiff and Luton's current situations

At the start of the season, Opta Analyst produced their projections for the 2024/25 season, which included a bottom three of Cardiff, Plymouth and Oxford United.

Given that the Pilgrims and the Bluebirds occupy two of the relegation places, Opta may have been on to something. As for Luton, they were projected to finish in fifth, which tells you just how abysmal their season has been.

Despite defeating Norwich City 2-1 on Saturday, the Pilgrims still find themselves four points adrift of safety at the bottom of the table.

Although 28 of their 37 points have come at Home Park, their remaining home fixtures come against Sheffield United, Coventry City and Leeds United, who are all gunning for promotion.

As for Cardiff, they are unbeaten in three but have just one win in their last nine league games. Three of their remaining games are against bottom half teams, while they end the season at Carrow Road.

Luton have enjoyed an upturn in form under Matt Bloomfield and are unbeaten in four, having beaten relegation rivals Hull City and Cardiff.

The Hatters embark on a favourable run of fixtures which includes clashes with Stoke City and Blackburn Rovers before a meeting with rejuvenated Derby County.

Given how close things are at the bottom, the relegation changes could change several times before the close of the Championship season.

Although fixtures can look daunting on paper, Luton and Derby have proved that when you are scrapping for your lives, any side in the division is beatable.