Albion have banked a little more than £3 million in prize money for reaching the Europa League.

They can add to that by picking up points in their group.

Football finance lecturer Kieran Maguire reckons they would be looking at about £20 million in prize money if they won the group and went all the way to lift the trophy in Dublin next May.

Each point in the group stage is worth about £180,000 – so a win brings £540,000.

Group winners receive £955,000 and runners-up get £480,000.

The prize money goes up per round through the knockout stages with victory in the final worth £7.5 million.

Albion’s three home games in the group stages would each be expected to bring in about £800,000 in matchday revenue.

There will be some increase in sponsorship but Maguire believes that is likely to be modest.

Albion would have played in the Conference League had they come seventh in the Prem.

While the matches might not look much different as you flick around the channels on a Thursday evening, the financial aspect is.

The Conference League is only worth about 40% of the Europa to clubs.

Playing in Europe also has the less tangible benefits of increasing Albion's profile.

But it will demand increased expenditure on the playing squad.

Albion will know how the four-team groups shape up when the draw is made on September 1 and the list of potential opponents might become clearer after this weekend’s games around the continent.

Matchdays are September 21, October 5 and 26, November 9 and 30 and December 14 in the group stage.

Two-leg knockout ties get under way on February 15.