Source · Select Committees · Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Recommendation 10
10
Acknowledged
Paragraph: 43
Reach urgent agreement on sharing higher proportion of revenue across football pyramid
Recommendation
We urge football authorities, including the Premier League, EFL and the FA, to urgently reach an agreement on sharing a higher proportion of revenue with clubs down the football pyramid before the establishment of IREF. This should include no increase in the current level of parachute payments from the Premier League but should include an increased, strategic redistribution of income from all Leagues down to the grassroots of football.
Government Response Summary
The government echoes the Committee's call for football authorities to urgently reach a revenue sharing agreement and states that the future Regulator will have targeted powers to intervene as a last resort if they fail to agree.
Paragraph Reference:
43
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
The Government strongly welcomes and echoes the Committee’s call on the football authorities to urgently reach an agreement on financial distributions. As set out in the Fan-Led Review of Football Governance and the subsequent White Paper, there is a clear and urgent need to reform financial distributions in English football. As such, the Government continues to urge the football authorities to reach a fair and reasonable agreement that promotes financial sustainability, sporting competition and international competitiveness across the entire football pyramid, thereby ensuring the continued success of English football at all levels. As set out in the White Paper, the Government’s strong preference is for a football-led solution and ideally there would be no need for regulatory intervention in financial distributions at all. However, we agree with the CMS Committee that although parties have had ample time, they have made slow progress on reaching an agreement. Given the importance of the structure and level of distributions for the financial sustainability of clubs across the pyramid, the Regulator will need to have targeted statutory powers to intervene as a last resort if football fails to reach an agreement. This backstop mechanism needs to be carefully designed to ensure it delivers the right outcomes and incentives with minimum regulatory involvement, which is why we are working with leading academics, regulatory and industry experts, and the clubs and leagues themselves to design an effective mechanism that encourages a lasting solution that works for football.