There must be a massive difference in quality between the top and bottom teams looking at the salary figures.

CSL 2016 financial report:

Chinese version http://sports.sohu.com/20161201/n474643063.shtml

1. CSL company, Total income 1.5 billion RMB (217.78 million USD),Total Expenditure 978 million RMB (141.9655 million USD)

main incomes includs:

Broadcast Rights: Ti'ao power (8 billion RMB for 5 years, 1 billion RMB for 2016 season)

Sponsorship
in million RMB

Company------------ Counrty---------Sponsorship
China Ping'an------ China----------- 181.5--------- Title Sponsor
Nike--------------- USA------------- 100----------- Kits Sponsor
Ford--------------- USA-------------- 40
JD.com------------- China------------ 35
Carlsberg---------- Denmark---------- 20
DHL---------------- Germany---------- 20
Red Bull----------- Austria---------- 20

Partner

Company-------- Counrty---------Sponsorship
Ledman--------- China----------- Free LED

Partner and Supplier

in million RMB
Company------- Counrty---------Sponsorship
TAG Heuer------ Switzerland------ 40
Shell Oil------ USA-------------- 20

2. Summary of all CSL clubs, Total income 7.23 billion RMB (1.0494992 billion USD ), Total expenditure 8.26 billion RMB (1.1988911 billion USD)

3. total attendance 5,798,135, Average 24,159 has a increase of 8.8% compare with last season.

4. income by clubs: 16 CSL clubs and two clubs that will be promoted to CSL next season.



in million RMB

1.--Jiangsu Suning-------------- 1242.70
2.--Shanghai SIPG--------------- 1012.00
3.--Hebei China Fortune---------- 960.89
4.--Guangzhou Evergrande--------- 790.00
5.--Shandong Luneng Taishan------ 539.80
6.--Tianjin Quanjian------------- 506.50 CL1 Champions
7.-- Shanghai Greenland Shenhua-- 482.46
8.-- Beijing Guo'an-------------- 365.50
9.-- Yanbian Fude---------------- 298.00
10.- Tianjin Teda---------------- 284.20
11.- Changchun Yatai------------- 264.75
12.- Liaoning Whowin------------- 241.36
13.- Guangzhou R&F--------------- 241.23
14.- Chongqing Lifan------------- 160.56
15.- Henan Jianye---------------- 122.50
16.- Hangzhou Greenwton---------- 116.70
17.- Guizhou Zhicheng------------ 112.20 CL2 Runners-up
18.- Shijiazhuang Ever Bright----- 90.21

5. Salries and Expenditure by clubs: 16 CSL clubs


in million RMB

Club-------------------------Total salary-----Total expenditure
1. Jiangsu Suning------------- 429.69---------- 1379.3750
2. Guangzhou Evergrande------- 546.03---------- 1124.4700
3. Shanghai SIPG-------------- 404.07---------- 1047.0380
4. Hebei China Foryune-------- 408.92----------- 961.3150
5. Shandong Luneng Taishan---- 396.95----------- 709.9205
6. Shanghai greenland Shenhua- 292.33----------- 603.4200
7. Beijing Guo'an------------- 232.13----------- 544.5700
8. Guangzhou R&F-------------- 173.65----------- 366.2650
9. Tianjin Teda--------------- 182.13----------- 318.3080
10.Liaoning Whowin------------ 128.12----------- 267.0480
11.Changchun Yatai------------ 169.88----------- 242.1900
12.Chongqing Lifan------------ 123.43----------- 200.5600
13.Yanbian Fude--------------- 107.29----------- 152.8290
14.Hangzhou Greentown---------- 90.602---------- 128.1495
15.Henan Jianye---------------- 82.939---------- 123.9900
16.Shijiazhuang Ever Bright---- 68.747----------- 91.0965

6. Average attendance by club and Gate receipts

in million RMB



Club-------------------------Average attendance----Gate receipts
1. Guangzhou Evergrande-------- 44,883--------------- 40
2. Jiangsu Suning-------------- 38,992--------------- 50
3. Beijing Guo'an-------------- 38,114--------------- 55
4. Chongqing Lifan------------- 36,178--------------- 38.84
5. Shanghai SIPG--------------- 28,040--------------- 40
6. Shanghai Greenland Shenhua-- 22,690--------------- 40
7. Shijiazhuang Ever Bright---- 22,523--------------- 27
8. Liaoning Whowin------------- 22,506---------------- 5
9. Tianjin Teda---------------- 21,740--------------- 10
10. Yanbian Fude--------------- 19,304---------------- 4
11. Shandong Luneng Taishan---- 18,932--------------- 37.80
12. Hebei China Fortune-------- 18,649--------------- 10
13. Henan Jianye--------------- 17,282--------------- 10
14. Changchun Yatai------------ 15,335---------------- 8.6
15. Hangzhou Greentown--------- 11,723---------------- 7.2
16. Guangzhou R&F--------------- 9,831---------------- 6.5