Hearts and Hibs to receive cash boost if Premiership season is concluded

Hibs and Hearts players emerge from the tunnell for the last Edinburgh derby before the football shutdown at Easter Road on March 3. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

Hearts and Hibs will receive a significant cash boost if, as is widely reported, an agreement is reached to conclude the Premiership season in the coming hours.

A conference call is scheduled between the Scottish Premiership clubs and SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster to discuss ending the campaign after 30 games.

It would result in Celtic being crowned champions and Hearts relegated to the Championship, while Hibs would also drop from sixth to seventh in the table with league positions set to be determined on a points-per-game basis.

Hibs’ total prize-money for a seventh-placed finish comes to £1.43m, which is £130,000 less than St Johnstone will receive for finishing sixth, while Hearts will collect a total of £1.12m for finishing bottom of the 12-team league.

Some of that money has already been paid to the clubs in instalments throughout the season, with the final outstanding payment based on league standings amounting to a percentage of the total.

Using last season’s payments as a guide, any agreement to end the season today, or early next week, would see Hibs pocket in the region of £475,000 including VAT, with Hearts still due around £190,000.

With no matchday income since the season was suspended on Friday, March 13, resulting in wage cuts at Tynecastle and wage deferrals at Easter Road, the payments will provide a much-needed injection of capital for both clubs.