It’s half-time between Hull City FC (Football Club) and Bristol City FC in the Championship play-off final and Hull lead 1-0. The winner of this game gains promotion to the English Football (Soccer) Premier League, which is worth an estimated £60m ($119m).

For those who know nothing about the English football leagues, here’s a brief very basic explanation: There are 20 teams in the Premier League (the top division) and 24 teams in the Championship (the second division). At the end of each football season (once a year) the bottom 3 teams in the Premier League, according to accumulated points, are relegated to the Championship. The top 2 teams in the Championship are automatically promoted to the Premier League and the third promotion place is available for the winner of a small playoff between the teams ranked third to sixth in the Championship.

This year (the 2007/2008 season) West Bromwich Albion FC and Stoke City FC won the top two automatic promotion places in the Championship, while Hull City FC, Bristol City FC, Crystal Palace FC and Watford FC fought it out in the play-offs. After Hull beat Watford and Bristol beat Palace in the play-off semi-finals they meet in the final today.

BBC news broke down the financial gains of promotion in this article, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7378516.stm.

For both sides today, this game represents a chance to play next season in the Premier League (for the first time in either clubs history). For me though, this really raises more questions about top league football being too much about money.

(I support Crystal Palace so don’t have particular allegiances in this game, although based on a better performance this season I’d rather Hull won.)