Controversy over Match Of The Day star Gary Lineker’s top salary
Lineker is the only star paid more than £1 million at the corporation.
Match Of The Day host Gary Lineker was the BBC’s highest paid on-air talent for seven consecutive years.
The former England football star’s salary has been under the spotlight over the years, as he continued to be the only star paid more than £1 million at the corporation.
As the longest-serving presenter of football highlights programme Match Of The Day, Lineker earns between £1,350,000 and £1,354,999, according to this year’s annual report published in July.
Veteran broadcaster Melvyn Bragg previously said Lineker’s salary opened the broadcaster up for an “attack” on how it is spending licence fee money.
Bragg, the presenter of BBC Radio 4’s In Our Time, claimed Lineker earned “27 times” his salary but that their shows have “about the same audience” numbers.
Meanwhile, there are four women in the top 10 list of BBC highest earners who have not broken the £1 million threshold.
The highest paid woman in 2023/24 was Zoe Ball, presenter of the Radio 2 breakfast show, whose salary was between £950,000 and £954,999 – down slightly from the previous year.
The other three women in the top 10 on-air salaries are: Question Time presenter Fiona Bruce (£405,000-£409,999); DJ Lauren Laverne (£395,000-£399,999) and news presenter Naga Munchetty (£345,000-£349,999).
Former BBC Match Of The Day presenter Des Lynam previously defended Lineker’s salary, describing it as “the market” for his “first-class” services.
The 82-year-old said his successor’s pay could not be justified “in terms of what a nurse or firemen does”, but it is “what the BBC feel they have to pay to get his services”.
In 2020, Lineker signed a new five-year contract with the broadcaster which included a 23% pay cut – from £1.75 million to around £1.35 million.
