Select committee: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Conclusion 9
Ninth Report - Football Governance
Published 30 Jun 2023
Paragraph 42
Addressed to Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee Sport governance All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The financial sustainability of the football pyramid is the responsibility of football itself. Football organisations can, and should, be the ones to find a solution to the current deadlock of revenue distribution. We welcome that progress seems to have been made on a “New Deal” for football and a new revenue sharing model. However, it is clear that there is still distance between the Premier League and EFL. If this distance is not bridged soon, more clubs will be put at risk of collapse. It is right that IREF is given the powers to intervene in the interests of the wider game as a last resort, but football organisations ought to prove that these powers are not necessary. There is still time, before the establishment of IREF, for these organisations to get their act together to secure the financial future of the sport.
From: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Ninth Report - Football Governance (HC 1288), paragraph 42, 30 June 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 26 September 2023 (deadline 8 September 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the Committee's report and remains "committed to legislating" to put the Independent Football Regulator on a statutory footing "as soon as parliamentary time allows".
- On a shadow regulator by the end of 2023, it says a formal transition team operating in shadow form "would require Second Reading of a Bill to have taken place", though preparatory work is happening "regardless".
- It agrees that the Regulator should set fan engagement standards independently of the Premier League Fan Engagement Standard and the football industry more broadly.
- On equality, diversity and inclusion, it "notes and supports" the calls for further action but says the Regulator will focus on financial sustainability, so wider issues are "best placed to be led by industry".
- On revenue sharing, it has a "strong preference" for a football-led solution, but says the Regulator will need statutory powers to intervene "as a last resort" if football fails to reach an agreement.