The EFL is asking the Premier League to halve the financial gap between the top flight and the Championship as part of negotiations over a new settlement for English football.
As the government revealed that the long-awaited white paper on an independent regulator is due to be put before parliament in a fortnight, the EFL and Premier League continue to wrangle over the details of a deal that would see more money move down the football pyramid.
The EFL has long called for the Premier League to share 25% of its TV revenue with its 72 clubs, but has met with strong resistance and recently wrote to clubs saying it was “not hopeful” of achieving such a goal. Although the EFL has not dropped its ambition, nor its hopes of greater funding for League One and League Two clubs to make them financially sustainable, the emphasis now appears to be on reducing the financial difference between the top tier and the Championship. Last season Norwich City earned £100m for finishing 20th in the Premier League and Fulham earned about £10m by winning the Championship.
Halving this gap would be something closer what the Premier League could agree to, with the league having long said it was open to discussions about reducing the “cliff edge” between the tiers, but without funding what it considers the excessive spending of Championship clubs.
Other possible areas of agreement include the introduction of merit payments in the EFL similar to the way prize money is distributed in the Premier League, as well as cost controls to ensure additional money does not drive inflation in wages and transfer fees. The abolition of the controversial parachute payment system may also be on the table.
The EFL chairman, Rick Parry, said: “It remains the EFL’s aim to halve the financial gap between the Premier League and the EFL. Doing so would make clubs financially sustainable in a thriving and competitive pyramid.
“English football now has the opportunity to make the changes required to fix the imbalance – the money is in the game, but a redistribution solution is not. As we have maintained throughout, a combination of redistribution and regulation is required to make clubs solvent and in order protect them in the long term.”
In the House of Commons on Thursday the sports minister, Stuart Andrew, said discussions between the two parties had been progressing “rapidly” in recent weeks. “We have had extensive engagement with both the EFL and the Premier League, encouraging them to get on with the negotiations,” he said. “Sometimes they have progressed and sometimes they have stalled, but I am pleased to say that they have been progressing somewhat more rapidly in recent weeks – I think the prospect of the coming white paper may have encouraged that – and we hope they will come up with a solution that will bring financial stability to the whole of the pyramid.”
The culture secretary, Michelle Donelan, confirmed to the house that the white paper was close, but urged the EFL and Premier League to reach a settlement. “We will publish the white paper in two weeks’ time,” she said, “[but] it is clear that football does not need to wait for the government to act. Both the minister for sport and I have had several meetings trying to push that along. I urge football to act now because it is in its interests, too, to safeguard clubs and to protect the interests of fans.”
