Premier League seeking £836m football deal

Premier League bosses are busy finalizing a landmark £836m financial settlement this weekend, just days before legislation establishing English football’s first statutory regulator is released.

Sky News understands that 20 top clubs, including Aston Villa, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, will be asked on Monday to approve a revised “new deal” with the English Football League (EFL), which will include proposals Increase player transfer fees.

Industry insiders said that if the new deal is approved super league AGM and then submitted to the EFL for approval.

After several previous versions were blocked by Premier League clubs, the revised blueprint includes clauses for an immediate payment of £44m to the lower leagues, followed by a further £44m over a few months.

However, the £88m will effectively be treated as a loan, to be repaid by the EFL over six years.

On Saturday, there were growing signs that the Premier League would struggle to get the support needed from the 14 clubs to ratify the resolution, with at least two clubs said to have decided to oppose it.

It is understood the Premier League has decided to make the vote independent of any conditions attached to wider financial reforms in English football, alarming some top-flight bosses.

Anxiety has been fueled in recent weeks by reports from Sky News that an unnamed defending champion Manchester City club was taking legal action to overturn related party trading rules.

Some analysts privately said that if manchester city If its action is successful, it could have serious consequences for financial fair play systems across Europe.

£836m, with additional installments totaling £88m, rising to £924m, is partly hypothetical as it is based on a calculation of net media revenue.

Monday’s vote is likely to be the last before the government publishes the Football Governance Bill, which would pave the way for the creation of a new regulatory body with powers to impose financial redistribution deals on the sport.

Whitehall sources said the legislation could be introduced this month.

Rishi Sunak English football’s power brokers were warned that a deal would be introduced whether they wanted to agree to it or not – a threat that sparked the fury of club bosses who believed the Conservatives themselves were risking the financial sustainability of the professional game.

“I hope the Premier League and the EFL can make some appropriate arrangements themselves – that would be better,” the Prime Minister said in January.

“But, ultimately, if that’s not possible, the regulators will be able to step in and do that to ensure that we distribute resources equitably across the football pyramid, certainly promoting the Premier League, but supporting community football… And all over the country.”

Under the agreement lodged on Monday, the existing 4% transfer fee will rise to 6% and then 7% for the life of the agreement with the EFL.

One source said the increased levy would put the Premier League at a financial disadvantage relative to other European domestic leagues including Germany, Italy and Spain.

Funding for the new deal will also come from the existing mechanism used to provide the Premier League with annual solidarity payments to the EFL.

Some Premier League bosses believe the initial £88m for the season will come from the top flight’s financial reserves and will not ultimately be repaid.

There was no vote at a meeting late last month, despite Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer holding talks with 92 professional clubs in which she urged them to resolve differences over future agreements.

Negotiations on the new deal have dragged on for more than a year.

At one point last autumn, a deal worth £925m looked inching closer, but the two sides failed to bridge remaining differences.

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters informed clubs in December that it would pause further negotiations with the EFL due to disagreements over the size and structure of the proposed deal.

However, at last month’s shareholder meeting, he said talks were becoming more constructive again.

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Some clubs appear resigned to the lack of a voluntary agreement and believe the new regulator will be responsible for making an agreement one of its top priorities.

However, because of the time it takes to get the regulator up and running fully, government officials believe it may not be possible until 2026.

There is serious unease among Premier League clubs over the cost of EFL subsidies and the lack of certainty over the regulator’s powers and other financial reforms.

It is understood that at least one club in the bottom half of the Premier League has raised the prospect of having to borrow money this year to fund its expected share of the English Football League (EFL).

It is one of a series of governance and legal conundrums facing the Premier League, which begins a new battle with Manchester City over related-party transaction rules that have the greatest impact on clubs with state-owned, private equity or multi-club ownership structures.

In a white paper published last year, the government said: “Current revenue distribution is insufficient, resulting in fiscal unsustainability and having a destabilizing impact on the football pyramid.

The document highlights the £4 billion gap between the total revenue of Premier League clubs and Championship clubs for the 2020-21 season.

The FFP system has also put clubs such as Everton (recently reduced from 10 points to 6 points), Manchester City and Nottingham Forest in trouble.

The Premier League declined to comment this weekend.