England's Premier League football teams have never been so profitable

England’s Premier League football teams made a collective pretax profit of half a billion pounds in the 2016-17 season, more than doubling the previous record set three years earlier, according to Deloitte’s Sports Business Group.

Revenue was boosted by a broadcast deal that poured in 5.1 billion pounds ($7.3 billion) over three years. That was up from a previous, 3 billion-pound arrangement, a rate of growth that outpaced even football stars’ escalating pay.

With wages increasing by 9 percent, to 2.5 billion pounds, in 2016-17, “this increase is nowhere near the level of revenue growth noted,” said Dan Jones, partner and head of Deloitte’s Sports Business Group.

Deloitte says clubs have recorded a collective pretax profit in three of the last four years, making them more attractive to investors. Eighteen of the 20 clubs were profitable at a pretax level in 2016-17, the firm said.