Football's Magic Money Tree

[Chester Perry]

It has us down for 9 full seasons ?

mistake acknowledge in the tail of the twitter thread

[Royboyclaret]

It has us down for 9 full seasons ?

claretandy, please see my response to AndyClaret.

[Chester Perry]

There is speculation that CFG may be looking at a club in Israel (that would be 11 under the umbrella it true)

https://twitter.com/Prof_Chadwick/statu ... 1159238659

of course it could be other interest from the emirate

[Chester Perry]

A new one for me - The Engrossed in Football magazine has collated a few articles old and new and made them available online under the banner of "Football as business" - some interesting stuff from a historical perspective.

https://www.eifmagazine.com/football-as-a-business

[The esk]

It is crazy to see how much stick Paul get's from Evertonian's for pointing out the realities of the situation - for the most part we are either ignored or trusted, he get's some dog's abuse at times.

Thank you both for your kind comments - the abuse is water of a duck's back!

[Chester Perry]

The Telegraph believes that the National League is going to be bailed out by the Government

Exclusive: Government provides bailout to National League clubs to keep them afloat and prevent them withdrawing from FA Cup
BEN RUMSBY SEPTEMBER 29, 2020

The Government will provide a coronavirus bailout to the National League, in a move that will allow it to begin on Saturday and stop North and South division clubs withdrawing from the FA Cup.

The Telegraph has been told that ministers have pledged to provide a rescue package to teams in the three divisions that could stop several of them going bust.

Full details of the package – expected to be in the form of a grant rather than a loan – are unlikely to be finalised before this weekend’s National League kick-off and FA Cup second qualifying round amid hopes it could be worth up to £20 million.

But the Government has now made clear it will underwrite losses made by clubs after forcing them to play behind closed doors by scrapping Thursday’s planned return of fans to elite football.

The uncertainty over whether it would intervene had threatened to throw the world’s oldest cup competition into chaos, with non-league clubs on the brink of withdrawal to avoid triggering player contracts that must be honoured for the rest of the campaign.

The Telegraph was told that teams were planning to begin pulling out as soon as Thursday. They included Telford United, who are scheduled to travel to Northern Premier League Division One South East Chasetown FC on Saturday.

Speaking before the Government pledge was made, club secretary Luke Shelley said: “We’ve had no confirmation from anybody that we’re having any financial support. So, therefore, we won’t be starting the season on Saturday – and that includes the FA Cup.”

Shelley said Telford’s players would need to know by Thursday night whether or not the match was taking place.

Their game is one in which it was announced fans would be able to attend – but not those of the away side.

The ruling corresponds with current Covid-19 guidelines under which spectators are banned from attending matches in the top six divisions of English football, the so-called “elite” game.

But the decision provoked ridicule, led by Corinthian-Casuals, who are scheduled to host National League South Dulwich Hamlet.

The Isthmian League Premier Division club said in a statement: “As the coronavirus is clearly clever enough to differentiate between supporters of Step 2 and 3 clubs, in their wisdom, supporters of National League clubs – which include Dulwich Hamlet – are banned from spectating. “We have held back on the sale of tickets for the time being but will unfortunately have to limit these to Corinthian-Casuals and neutral supporters only. Please do not purchase tickets if you are a supporter of Dulwich Hamlet FC as both clubs have to adhere to these rules (we cannot believe we’ve had to type that).

“We’d like to place on record that as a club, we are not in favour of this utterly baffling ruling, we believe it is wholly unnecessary and we are having to put in place these restrictions under duress.”

Other National League clubs had been desperately trying to amend player contracts on Tuesday to avoid them triggering season-long payments.

Chorley FC chief executive Terry Robinson said: “The last thing we want to do is not enter the FA Cup but we have to be careful about the future of the club.”

Some teams were planning to play come what may, with Fylde saying their player contracts had already been triggered because the club was professional.

Bradford Park Avenue director of football Martin Knight said his side had already made amendments to those contracts.

“My contracts won’t commit me to the full season if we kick the ball once,” he said.

“I think a lot of the other clubs in our league have that problem, because they didn’t make any amends to their player contracts.”

[Chester Perry]

that report comes after the government has expressed it's frustration of the Premier League still not agreeing and EFL bail-out - again from the Telegraph - I said quite some time back the the Premier League would not agree to a bail out before the transfer window shuts (it strengthens the negotiating position), the government stance on match attendance just gives the Premier League a further negotiating point with them.

Government frustration mounts over Premier League and EFL failure to reach £250m bailout compromise
TOM MORGAN SEPTEMBER 29, 2020

Government figures are growing increasingly frustrated at delays by the Premier League in reaching agreement over the English Football League's £250million bail-out demand.

A meeting between top-tier clubs on Tuesday was described as "measured" but inconclusive as executives expressed lingering concerns over the sums involved before talks were suspended again until next Tuesday.

Concern is now mounting that deliberations over how the world's wealthiest league will help are not moving at the same pace as the Treasury is in finding rescue packages for the entire sporting sector.

On Sunday, Oliver Dowden, the Culture Secretary, had said he was "hopeful" the Premier League would this week confirm a rescue package for the pyramid.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, will continue in the coming days to encourage the leagues to work together to find a solution.There is recognition within the department that many Premier League clubs have already helped in terms of supporting communities with food supplies and offering up facilities for emergency services during the pandemic.

However, a senior Whitehall source said football's ongoing delays were "remarkable". "HM Treasury has previously developed schemes to save tens of millions of jobs in the space of days," he added. "It seems a bit flat-footed of the Premier League."

All sports have been told to provide full details to the Government by end of play on Wednesday so it has time to devise a likely hybrid of loans and grants within the next fortnight. However, Mr Dowden has consistently insisted the Premier League must “step up to the plate” in regard to the EFL clubs.

As The Telegraph disclosed last week, almost all the 20 top-flight clubs are resigned to a rescue package of some sorts but concerns remain over a £250m cheque that includes the Championship. One reservation expressed by smaller top-tier clubs is that their financial outlooks are already broadly in line with effective rivals in the division below under the parachute payment system. As a result, the Premier League is expected to require assurances that the second tier will curb excessive wage spending.

A lack of detail over where the bail-out is needed, potential assurances over future spending and measures to ensure the smaller top-tier clubs do not "hand unnecessary advances to Championship rivals" are said to be the remaining hurdles.

Talks have also been delayed by the possibility of the Government contributing in some way to the overall package. Damian Collins MP, the former chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee, and the former FA chairmen Greg Dyke and Lord Triesman are among signatories to agree that ministers rather than the Premier League should take responsibility.

Sources close to talks hinted the Premier League may end up agreeing on offering the EFL a counter offer instead of agreeing outright to the £250m sum which the lower leagues say is for ticket revenue alone.

While kicking the can down the road on bail-outs, the top tier instead agreed upon a new rule that would result in the league paying for Covid testing for all upcoming cup ties against EFL opposition. The vote comes after it emerged Hull City turned down an offer by West Ham to have players tested ahead of their Carabao Cup match.

The clubs also agreed upon a potential points-per-game system if the season is curtailed due to Covid. They have yet to vote upon a potential threshold on which the season would be scrapped altogether. A most likely curtailment option is that the season would be scrapped if less than 75 per cent of games had been completed. Last season Liverpool had played 76 per cent prior to Project Restart.

The EFL, meanwhile, meets on Wednesay, having already indicated that a salary cap in the Championship may be in the offing. Director Mark Ashton, the Bristol City chief executive, told Telegraph Sport on Saturday how the rescue package would form part of an overall reset in expenditure. The £250m package was a "robust figure", he added, and based only on loss ticket revenue across the four divisions.

The Telegraph disclosed on Monday how - in total - the Government is expected to be asked for a support package worth more than £2 billion. The sporting sector fears that up to 300,000 roles could be wiped out as the Covid-19 crisis causes another six months of crowd closures and restrictions.

[Chester Perry]

Jorge Mendes on the joys of being an agent - benefitting from both this weeks transactions between Manchester City and Benfica - a meagre Euro 20m earnings for him in this window so far - how does he manage to get by.

https://twitter.com/sportingintel/statu ... 3650258950

I love this response in the thread's tail

"Football is a simple game of 22 players playing for 90 minutes and at the end Jorge Mendes wins"

[randomclaret2]

that report comes after the government has expressed it's frustration of the Premier League still not agreeing and EFL bail-out - again from the Telegraph - I said quite some time back the the Premier League would not agree to a bail out before the transfer window shuts (it strengthens the negotiating position), the government stance on match attendance just gives the Premier League a further negotiating point with them.

Government frustration mounts over Premier League and EFL failure to reach £250m bailout compromise
TOM MORGAN SEPTEMBER 29, 2020

Government figures are growing increasingly frustrated at delays by the Premier League in reaching agreement over the English Football League's £250million bail-out demand.

A meeting between top-tier clubs on Tuesday was described as "measured" but inconclusive as executives expressed lingering concerns over the sums involved before talks were suspended again until next Tuesday.

Concern is now mounting that deliberations over how the world's wealthiest league will help are not moving at the same pace as the Treasury is in finding rescue packages for the entire sporting sector.

On Sunday, Oliver Dowden, the Culture Secretary, had said he was "hopeful" the Premier League would this week confirm a rescue package for the pyramid.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, will continue in the coming days to encourage the leagues to work together to find a solution.There is recognition within the department that many Premier League clubs have already helped in terms of supporting communities with food supplies and offering up facilities for emergency services during the pandemic.

However, a senior Whitehall source said football's ongoing delays were "remarkable". "HM Treasury has previously developed schemes to save tens of millions of jobs in the space of days," he added. "It seems a bit flat-footed of the Premier League."

All sports have been told to provide full details to the Government by end of play on Wednesday so it has time to devise a likely hybrid of loans and grants within the next fortnight. However, Mr Dowden has consistently insisted the Premier League must “step up to the plate” in regard to the EFL clubs.

As The Telegraph disclosed last week, almost all the 20 top-flight clubs are resigned to a rescue package of some sorts but concerns remain over a £250m cheque that includes the Championship. One reservation expressed by smaller top-tier clubs is that their financial outlooks are already broadly in line with effective rivals in the division below under the parachute payment system. As a result, the Premier League is expected to require assurances that the second tier will curb excessive wage spending.

A lack of detail over where the bail-out is needed, potential assurances over future spending and measures to ensure the smaller top-tier clubs do not "hand unnecessary advances to Championship rivals" are said to be the remaining hurdles.

Talks have also been delayed by the possibility of the Government contributing in some way to the overall package. Damian Collins MP, the former chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee, and the former FA chairmen Greg Dyke and Lord Triesman are among signatories to agree that ministers rather than the Premier League should take responsibility.

Sources close to talks hinted the Premier League may end up agreeing on offering the EFL a counter offer instead of agreeing outright to the £250m sum which the lower leagues say is for ticket revenue alone.

While kicking the can down the road on bail-outs, the top tier instead agreed upon a new rule that would result in the league paying for Covid testing for all upcoming cup ties against EFL opposition. The vote comes after it emerged Hull City turned down an offer by West Ham to have players tested ahead of their Carabao Cup match.

The clubs also agreed upon a potential points-per-game system if the season is curtailed due to Covid. They have yet to vote upon a potential threshold on which the season would be scrapped altogether. A most likely curtailment option is that the season would be scrapped if less than 75 per cent of games had been completed. Last season Liverpool had played 76 per cent prior to Project Restart.

The EFL, meanwhile, meets on Wednesay, having already indicated that a salary cap in the Championship may be in the offing. Director Mark Ashton, the Bristol City chief executive, told Telegraph Sport on Saturday how the rescue package would form part of an overall reset in expenditure. The £250m package was a "robust figure", he added, and based only on loss ticket revenue across the four divisions.

The Telegraph disclosed on Monday how - in total - the Government is expected to be asked for a support package worth more than £2 billion. The sporting sector fears that up to 300,000 roles could be wiped out as the Covid-19 crisis causes another six months of crowd closures and restrictions.

The mention of Bristol City is interesting.Their majority shareholder is said to be worth around £1.7billion

[Chester Perry]

The mention of Bristol City is interesting.Their majority shareholder is said to be worth around £1.7billion

Hedgefund manager - he will prefer a sensible approach that a Salary cap affords

[randomclaret2]

There are many examples of owners of Championship clubs with wealth that far exceeds our own. Talk of bailing them out is too simplistic

[Chester Perry]

I have posted a number of times about how aggressively commercial La Liga, here they appear to be doing things more akin to what a club would do - really not convinced that this is what a League should be doing - from SportsBusiness.com

LaLiga to launch licensed sports bars to support international expansion
Ben Cronin, Europe Editor - September 29, 2020

Spain’s top-flight football competition, LaLiga, will launch a new chain of licensed sports bars around the world to support its international expansion.

The league has spent the last 14 months developing the concept and brand guidelines for the new hospitality venues with a view to franchising them to specialist hospitality operators.

The ‘LaLiga Twentynine’s’ bars will take their name from the year the league was formed in 1929 and will combine gastronomy, entertainment and other sports “in a unique and interactive environment”.

Speaking at an event to launch the sport bar concept, Óscar Mayo, business, marketing and international development director at LaLiga, said the league plans to open 30 such venues over the next seven years.

The league has already signed an agreement with Barceló Hotel Group, a Spanish hotel chain with more than 252 hotels in 22 countries, granting it exclusive rights to LaLiga Twentynine’s licenses in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region and indicated the first venues would open in 2021. SportBusiness understands the league struck the deal through its global licensing department and did not work with an external licensing agency.

Mayo said the hospitality concept had been designed to be flexible but was conceived with airports, city centres, hotels and street level locations in mind.

Common elements
Common elements to the sports bars will include changing room tunnel-themed entrances, an interactive Beat Centre where fans can learn more about the history of the league and take part in interactive quizzes and a multi-purpose area designed to look like a stadium stand.

Some sites will also feature a dedicated esports area from LaLiga sponsor EA Sports and a gastronomic ‘B-eat Experience’ area with premium eating experiences and 360-degree projections.

LaLiga sponsor Santander will provide interactive quizzes in the Beat Center while league drinks sponsor Budweiser will feature in a branded bar area. The league indicated the brands had not paid any additional fees for the increased visibility and that this was being treated as an ‘added bonus’ for them at this stage.

Mayo said: “We wanted to do something like this really well. We didn’t want to say: ‘this is our brand guidebook, do what you want’.

“We’ve been working on this for a long time, so [this is] the added value we are giving to the people who want to have a Twentynine sports bar – the franchisees.

“The most important thing is that it works, and the customers enjoy the food and drink being offered there.”

Mena region
Sara Ramis, chief marketing officer for the Barceló Hotel Group, said it had signed the exclusive licensing rights for the Mena region because it was of strategic importance to the company. She predicted that the first themed sports bars could open in Morocco or Dubai “very soon”.

She said: “From Barceló Hotel Group, we continue to bet on experiential innovation, creating unique and differentiated experiences in our hotels. LaLiga Twentynine’s is an innovative concept that unites us with a prestigious brand in LaLiga to develop this new concept of sports bar in which our clients will enjoy surprising experiences linked to sports.”

But Mayo added that the league also wants to open bars in North and Central America, in Russia and across Europe, emphasising that international projects are “more important than local projects”, to aid its expansion and promote its individual clubs.

“LaLiga is really working on getting closer to its fans and to increase the excitement during the 90-minute matches,” he said. “Beyond being just a weekend, we wanted them [the fans] to have other experiences and we wanted to have other points of contact with our fans during the week and other times – and also in a very different way.”

LaLiga has confirmed that a themed restaurant will feature at the PortAventura World theme park in Salou and Vila-seca, Tarragona, on the Costa Daurada in Catalonia, Spain.

The league recently announced a joint venture with the theme park operator comprising of three phases.

The first, composed of an investment of €10m ($11.7m/£9.1m), covers digital experiences, including the development of a new virtual game, and the creation of a themed restaurant within the resort that will be ready during the 2021-22 football season.

The second phase will include the design and development of a new LaLiga-themed attraction and an investment of €40m. In the final phase, there are plans to create a LaLiga theme park within the PortAventura World resort with a further investment of €100m.

In parallel, the joint venture will sign a licensing agreement with PortAventura World for the use of the LaLiga brand and app development. This licensing agreement will run for 15 years and give PortAventura World exclusive rights in Europe.

[Chester Perry]

The reality of the new normal - after seeing a slight fall in domestic rights for the next cycle, the Bundesliga has now found itself with a 20% fall in overseas rights to look forward too, it was starting from a very low base too , these rights were incredibly cheap compared to the Premier League, yet they have fallen significantly - I have previously posted about BeinSport refusing to bid because of Piracy Issues - from SportsProMedia.com

Report: Bundesliga sees overseas TV rights value fall by 20%
DFL set for €50m shortfall on fees despite increase in deals from 20 to 48.

Posted: September 29 2020 By: Tom Bassam

ESPN’s US TV rights contract worth €35m a year
German soccer’s top league still without MENA broadcaster
Having done well to secure only a marginal decline in its domestic TV rights contracts, German soccer’s top-flight Bundesliga has been less successful overseas.

According to German business outlet Sponsors, the German Football League (DFL) could see final the total value of its international broadcast contracts for the 2020/21 campaign fall by as much as 20 per cent from the €250 million (US$292 million) that Bundesliga International, the league’s overseas sales division, brought in last year.

That €50 million (US$58.5 million) shortfall comes despite an increase in the amount of individual deals, with the challenging economic conditions created by the coronavirus pandemic hitting rights holders. Having shed the 80-territory, five-year deal with Fox, Bundesliga International has secured almost 50 overseas rights deals, up from 20 during the previous cycle.

For the next rights cycle Bundesliga International had already done some key business overseas. In September 2019 it secured a five-season US broadcast deal with ESPN worth €35 million (US$41 million) a year, according to Sponsors, that starts with the 2021/22 campaign. In February, just prior to the pandemic hitting Europe, the league signed off on a four-year contract with Nordic Entertainment (Nent) for Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden worth a reported €17 million (US$19.9 million) a season until the conclusion of the 2024/25 campaign.

Even amid the pandemic in May, the Bundesliga was able to agree a four-year deal with Japanese pay-TV broadcaster Sky PerfecTV that runs for the same period as the Nordic deal and is worth a purported €16 million (US$18.7 million) per year, a one third increase on the previous contract in that market.

Speaking to Sponsors, Robert Klein, Bundesliga International chief executive, cited the South American and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) territories as markets where financial realities put bumps in the road when it came to negotiations.

Pay-TV operator BeIN Sports confirmed on the eve of the new Bundesliga season that it would not renew its regional deal, citing the impact of broadcast piracy on its valuations model. Klein said at the time of that announcement that talks with other MENA broadcasters are ongoing, while an English-language broadcast partner in sub-Saharan Africa is yet to be confirmed. BeIN, for its part, has not completely stepped away from the Bundesliga either, holding broadcast partnerships in other territories such as France and New Zealand.

In South America, Bundesliga International has been more successful by adopting a pragmatic approach.

“As an example, South America was already a difficult environment pre-Covid, with macro-economic challenges and a changing media landscape,” Klein told Sponsors.

“Due to corona, the market practically came to a complete standstill when we started our sales activities.”

One market where innovative broadcasting solutions have been found is Latin America, where contract lengths vary between one and three years. The Bundeliga now has multi-outlet broadcast partnerships in place in Mexico, Brazil and a 17-nation deal with regional telecommunications giant América Móvil for one match live and on demand.

Away from media rights, Sponsors also reports that the DFL’s commercial partnerships will exceed €50 million for the first time in the 2020/21 season, having secured major partnerships with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and confectionary giants Mondelez.

"This year alone, we were able to win two large commercial partners with AWS and Mondelez, and we will be announcing more positive news in this area over the next two weeks," Klein told the German outlet.

[Chester Perry]

AFC Wimbledon are getting very close to returning to playing matches at Plough Lane

https://www.afcwimbledon.co.uk/news/202 ... xecutive2/

[Chester Perry]

@PhillipeAuclair with the latest on the FIFA/Trinidad & Tobago FA spat on JosimarFootball.com -

Fifa bullying backfires
29/09/2020

On 24 September it seemed that Fifa had won by knockout against the rebellious Trinidad & Tobago FA. 24 hours later the tables were turned.

By Philippe Auclair

t seemed that the long-running feud between the Trinidad & Tobago Football Association (TTFA) and Fifa had come to a conclusion when, on 24 September, Fifa announced that the rebellious Caribbean FA had been suspended. The seven men of the Bureau of the Fifa Council – Gianni Infantino plus the presidents of Fifa’s six constituent confederations – explained their decision in those terms: “The suspension was prompted by the former leadership of the TTFA lodging a claim before a local court in Trinidad and Tobago in order to contest the decision of the FIFA Council to appoint a normalisation committee for the TTFA. This course of action was in direct breach of article 59 of the FIFA Statutes, which expressly prohibits recourse to ordinary courts unless specifically provided for in the FIFA regulations“.

As in the old fable, the clay pot had been no match for the iron pot: what could break did break, and what could inflict the blow had dealt it. It did not matter that the TTFA had won the case it had brought against Fifa in Trinidad & Tobago’s High Court, the supreme legal authority in their own country. In Fifa’s eyes, the rule of T&T law did not apply to Fifa, even if the TTFA had been established by an Act of Parliament in the Caribbean nation. Consequently, it did not matter that Justice Gobin had issued a judgement which expressly called into question the overarching power of Fifa over its 211 Member Associations.

Or rather, it mattered a lot, as TTFA’s victory was the first of its kind and could encourage other MAs and FAs finding themselves on the wrong side of Fifa’s decisions to contest them outside of the agreed protocol, with CAS being the sole ultimate arbiter for disputes of this kind. This was more than a challenge to Fifa’s authority; it was a challenge to the legitimacy of Fifa’s own statutes, something which Justice Gobin made absolutely clear in her first judgement at the High Court. This was too dangerous a precedent to be allowed; in fact, it was widely expected that suspension would follow, should the TTFA not agree to withdraw its case in the T&T High Court; Fifa simply could not be seen to have lost. A deadline was set, which TTFA – according to the letter of the law – failed to meet. Suspension was swift to follow.

Yet, this was not to be the end of this complex affair. Remarkably, within 24 hours of Fifa suspending TTFA , the tables had turned again. Despite the ban, Trinidad & Tobago were among the nations included in the draw for the 2021 Gold Cup, and Fifa found itself in the dock again, not just in Trinidad and Tobago but also in Switzerland. The clay pot had, somehow, managed to mend itself, like one of those Tex Avery cartoon cats which miraculously keep on chasing mice after being blown to smithereens. It’s not all over, folks!

What follows is the scarcely believable chain of events which led to this reversal of roles and fortunes.

To the man in the Port-of-Spain street, suspension meant that the country’s national team, the Soca Warriors, wouldn’t be able to take part in the draw for the CONCACAF Gold Cup which would take place on 28 September. To those employed by the TTFA, it also meant that Fifa funds would no longer be available to anyone involved in the running of football in the Caribbean nation. This ‘anyone’ included the normalisation committee headed by local businessman Robert Haddad, despite the fact that this normalisation committee had been put in place by Fifa themselves. This was no surprise. It had remained entirely silent on this affair throughout, as if it had never really existed, or just as a fig leaf for a vacuum

These implications posed an existential threat to a football body which is riddled with debts after years or mismanagement and worse, and, beyond that, to any kind of organised football in the country which qualified for the 2006 World Cup, one of a handful of teams from the region which managed to take part in the game’s great jamboree.

The gravity of the situation was such that, on Tuesday 22 September, the day before Fifa’s ultimatum ran out, the members of the TTFA agreed – not without considerable hand-wringing from all sides – that it would be better if its president William Wallace bowed to Fifa’s demands and withdrew the case lodged at the High Court. TTFA’s lawyers were then instructed to do that, something which was immediately reported in the local media. An application to withdraw was filed at the High Court.

However, 24 September being a Bank Holiday – in celebration of Trinidad & Tobago becoming a Republic in 1976 – Fifa were not notified in time, and suspension was decreed. TTFA had missed the deadline for filing the withdrawal of its case by two minutes, having done it at 15:02 rather than the 15:00 as notified for Fifa, which also happened to be the time at which the T&T High Court Civil Registry closed for the day.

Regardless of TTFA’s questionable efficiency (or feeble attempt at legal gamesmanship) – which prompted the resignation of TTFA’s vice-president Susan Joseph-Warrick – that the harshest of punishments which could be inflicted by Fifa was meted out to TTFA because of a 120 second delay had more than a hint of absurdity about it.

The T&T Minister of Sports and Community Development Shamfa Cudjoe (who had aligned her position on Fifa’s from day one of the dispute) blamed Fifa’s decision on ‘the egos and actions of a few jokers’, i.e. the TTFA board elected in November 2019; but it is fair to say that her take on the events wasn’t shared by everybody else. Quite the opposite in fact: the suspension was greeted with shock, anger and disbelief in the archipelago.

“They could have said: ‘allyuh [‘you all’ in Trinidadian English] were two minutes late but we win’”, said Keith Look-Loy, president of the TT Super League and chairman of the TTFA Technical Committee. “But that wasn’t enough for them. They wanted to put our faces in the mud and humiliate us. They wanted to show us and the rest of the world who is boss, despite the fact that we followed our membership’s wishes and Fifa’s wishes—they still went ahead with the ban.”

Reverend Dr. Iva Gloudon, herself a former international athlete, head of T&T’s women football and the Republic’s ex-High Commisionner to Jamaica, used much stronger words in an open letter to Gianni Infantino. ” What I want to say to you is that you represent the worst of what sport has become. A mighty conglomerate which is focused on making money; wielding power; and imposing your superiority and power on the athletes and fans who have now become mere pawns and no longer the central players in sport”, she wrote. “[…] So, the mighty Fifa is bigger than prime ministers, presidents, ministers of sport, athletes and, I daresay, God? Your laws, articles and clauses can be executed and applied in all situations without regard for human beings and the diversity of peoples?

Shame on you Mr Infantino!

I CANNOT BREATHE!“

What’s more, the Bureau of the Fifa Council had taken its decision a mere six days after Fifa’s 70th Congress, a virtual event which gathered all of its Member Associations. The fourth statutory item on the Agenda of the Congress was none other than: ‘suspension and expulsion of a member’.

Why then not use this opportunity to openly discuss the TTFA case and put the matter of the sanctions it could incur to the MAs which make up Fifa? Could there be a better platform to address this difficult issue in Gianni Infantino’s ‘transparent’ and ‘democratic’ Fifa 2.0? Look-Loy told Josimar that a couple of Caribbean MAs had intended to speak out if and when the matter was broached at the Congress.

The discussion never took place, however. Item 4 remained buried in the order of proceedings. Yet, less than a week later, Trinidad and Tobago had been thrown out, at least temporarily, of the ‘football family’. There would be no Gold Cup for the Soca Warriors, or so we thought. We were wrong.*

“Miami, FL (Friday, September 25, 2020) – Concacaf has noted FIFA’s decision to suspend the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA). This matter was discussed during an emergency meeting of the Concacaf Council last night, and the following was agreed: For the purposes of the 2021 Gold Cup draw, scheduled to take place on Monday September 28, at 8:00 pm ET, Trinidad and Tobago will be drawn in the Prelims as planned”.

Nobody expected this statement (*), least of them the president of the suspended TTFA William Wallace, who had lodged a last-ditch ‘application for Injunctive Relief’ to CAS, which, “if successful, would allow Trinidad and Tobago to participate in the Gold Cup draw card for Monday 28th September 2020”. Wallace was genuinely unaware that Concacaf was about to extend an olive branch to the MA they had refused to support in any shape or form until then. Regardless of Fifa’s decision, Trinidad & Tobago were to be included in the Gold Cup draw, and were, in Pot 1, as one of ‘pre-seeded teams’.

TTFA supporters could barely conceal their surprise – and their joy – at the news. For months, they’d desperately tried to reach out to their Confederation, without success, even suspecting that CONCACAF was singing from the hymn book that Fifa had put under their nose. Fellow Caribbean FAs had been very careful not to raise their heads above the parapet, at least in public. This was different. It gave TTFA some breathing space, and at a crucial moment.

In almost perfect synchronicity with Concacaf’s unexpected statement, William Wallace had also decided to ‘withdraw the withdrawal’ of his case against Fifa at the High Court – in short, to resume his legal fight in his country’s supreme tribunal, whilst confirming that “our appeal against FIFA’s decision to suspend Trinidad and Tobago will remain before CAS”.

On 9 October, Justice Gobin would pass judgement on the second, ‘substantial’ TTFA v. Fifa case, for which the defendant had chosen not to file a defence (as it would acknowledge the legitimacy of the process in Trinidad & Tobago, and therefore undermine the supremacy of Fifa’s statutes over domestic laws). The question she’d have to answer this time would be: ‘was Fifa justified in removing the TTFA board and imposing a normalisation committee?’. Judging by the tenure of her first judgement, it was doubtful that her answer would be ‘yes’.

This was also happening shortly after The Guardian Media’s lead editor of the investigative desk Mark Bassant had published the results of a long investigation into the financial affairs of the previous TTFA administration, and particularly of its former president David John-Williams, the same John-Williams who’d been a key supporter of Gianni Infantino in the Fifa presidential election, and who’d been been supported by Infantino in return – in fulsome terms – when he vied, unsuccessfully, for re-election at the head of TTFA in November 2019. Bassant’s findings have since prompted T&T’s Fraud Squad, Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACIB) and the Financial Investigations Branch (FIB) to launch a formal investigation.

According to Bassant, who’d had access to a number of incriminating bank documents, a large proportion of the funds – well over $2m – allocated by Fifa to John-Williams’s TTFA for the purpose of building a supposedly state-of-the-art ‘Home of Football’ in Couva, south of the capital Port-of-Spain, had somehow ended in accounts directly and indirectly linked to John-Williams himself, including one in Panama. The ‘Home of Football’ had been inaugurated in great fanfare by Gianni Infantino in person days before the TTFA election; it was, however, totally unfit for purpose, as the authorities found out when they tried to use it as a facility in the fight against COVID-19 a few months later.

What was all the more embarrassing for Fifa, and particularly for Infantino’s old friend and ally Véron Mosengo-Omba, then in charge of associations in Africa and the Caribbean, was that the alleged ‘ financial mismanagement and malfeasance at the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association’ which the T&T fraud squad is now investigating had happened under their own noses, when it was their responsibility to make sure that Fifa’s money had been spent properly, and when they had the power to ensure that was the case.

This was in stark contrast to Gianni Infantino’s boast when he addressed the Fifa Congress on 18 September and said: “we have the money [to help] because in the new FIFA, the money doesn’t disappear”.

Except that, in Trinidad, it apparently had.

What follows now – until Justice Gobin’s judgement on 9 October, which could well redraw the lines of the conflict – is almost impossible to guess. Concacaf’s decision to – de facto – ignore Fifa’s ban and include T&T in the 2021 Gold Cup draw could hint at a willingness to be used as a mediator in the dispute; or it could be read as a genuine shift of position from the confederation, following the pressure of MAs concerned by Fifa’s jackhammer tactics in its fight against TTFA; or it might simply mean that Concacaf just wished everyone to take a time-out in a quarrel that had escalated beyond what they considered reasonable. It could even be that Fifa is not too dissatisfied with Concacaf pouring some oil on choppy waters and playing the good cop while it puts the truncheon aside for a while.

The TTFA itself is not a homogenous block. Wallace’s rule, methods and actions are not beyond reproach and have been openly challenged and criticised from within. Had Fifa shown a little bit more patience and less vindictiveness in its action, it is not unlikely that Wallace could have lost much of his authority and of his fragile support at home. But when Fifa ignored Jean Cocteau’s advice (‘to know to which point it is possible to go too far’), all it achieved was to strengthen what unity there was. Former international defender Clayton Morris, for example, who collected 36 caps for the Soca Warriors, could not be described as a hardcore supporter of Wallace and his team; yet he could say: “Trinidad and Tobago is now recognised, not just for being the smallest country to have qualified for a [Fifa men’s] World Cup back in 2006, but as a country that decided on principle to stand up to Fifa. I think a lot of smaller countries like in Africa and those places would take strength from the position that we just took against Fifa”.

Which is exactly what Fifa didn’t want to happen.

(*) T&T’s participation in the 2021 Gold Cup is still subject to certain conditions: “However, they will only participate in the competition if the suspension imposed on the TTFA is lifted by FIFA by 5:00 pm ET on December 18, 2020. If the suspension imposed on the TTFA is not lifted by FIFA by 5:00pm ET on December 18, 2020, Trinidad and Tobago will be replaced in the Gold Cup Prelims by the Antigua and Barbuda Football Association as the next highest ranked team based on their 2019 Concacaf Nations League performance”.

[Chester Perry]

TwoHundredPercent.com with a very rounded look at the financial crisis in the lower leagues

The Forthcoming Lower League Apocalypse
by Ian | Sep 29, 2020

Such is the nature of a force majeure that criticism of those in charge of administering anything while it wreaks its havoc is usually tempered. At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, for example, the popularity of the prime minister received something of a boost because somebody was doing something. Appeals to national unity can go a long way when we’re collectively faced with some degree of existential threat. With time, however, comes greater room for scrutiny and skepticism. Once we’ve seen the effects of decisions already taken, we can make something approaching an informed decision over whether these were the right ones at the time.

Everybody knows the state that senior football is in as a result of Covid-19. Warnings have been sounded with increasingly urgency over the last few weeks that, away from its most elite level, clubs in this country are already at the point of widespread financial collapse. The reason for this is obvious. Premier League clubs may charge heftily for tickets and season tickets, but they have the relative comfort blanket of television contracts that guarantee even their worst performing clubs around £100m in television and associated performance fees.

Pretty quickly below the Premier League, however, this security quickly slips away and clubs become increasingly dependent on gate money. National League clubs get just a few thousand pounds a match for being on the television. There is no live television coverage of the National League North or the National League South. It’s hardly as though Premier League football clubs aren’t financially strained at the moment as well, though, and they are as tied to their financial and contractual obligations as anybody else at the moment. It’s easy to whip up some hatred of Premier League club owners by caricaturing them as Rich Uncle Pennybag, the Monopoly mascot, but the truth is a little more complex than that.

The moral case for arguing that the Premier League should find a way of supporting smaller clubs remains strong, but we should understand three things: that, despite the breathless talk about transfers that still dominates so much media coverage, most Premier League clubs are not rolling in money themselves at the moment (they recently had to cancel their contract with Chinese broadcaster PPTV, who broke their contract less than a year into a three-year deal worth £564m), that rescuing the EFL and the National League would likely be horrendously expensive, and that any bail-out offer from the Premier League would likely come with strings attached at which many supporters would baulk. You want Premier League B teams in the National League or EFL? Carry on campaigning for the Premier League to ‘rescue’ their clubs, then.

Despite substantial pressure from the government, the Premier League has so far not yielded, so for the time being the feeling of impending doom is continuing to grow inside many of our stomachs. Earlier this week, Monday a group of supporters, former players, administrators and politicians sent an open letter to the government warning that many EFL and National League clubs were “unable to meet their payroll obligations for next month”, and that without government assistance English football was facing “the collapse of the league structure that we have known for over one hundred years.” It has been reported that conversations on this matter are ongoing, but the matter is too pressing (and the government’s record on what it’ll support is too patchy) for clubs to just sit back and assume that a decision will be reached that will do the right thing. Clubs have to act.

The ongoing issues relating to not allowing fans in applies, of course, to “elite level” football, which, for the purposes of this conversation, means everybody from the National Leagues North & South up. Yesterday, twenty National League North clubs were signatories to a letter saying that they were unwilling to start their league season until a financial support package is in place, with clubs highlighting that many player contracts begin ‘on the commencement of the football season’, as per information that they’ve previously received by from the National League and Football Association. Activating player contracts with no guarantee of income for five or six months would, of course, be a completely unsustainable policy to see through.

The statement also covered the fact that, within the National League, each club in its top division has one vote each while clubs in the two feeder divisions only have four per division. It has been claimed that National League clubs themselves voted to pursue “elite” status so that they could complete their play-offs last season while “recreational” clubs had already had their seasons curtailed, but it is clear from the voting structure of the National League that this was not a vote that treated all of its member clubs equally. Regardless of this particular injustice, though, asking over and over whether those concerned regret their votes doesn’t feel like it’s contributing a great deal to the debate bar the amazing clarity of hindsight.

Below the National Leagues North & South, clubs are still allowed to let small crowds in to matches, though with everything pointing towards tightening the lockdown, for how much longer that will last is debatable. And as if to throw yet another firework into this bucket of disasters waiting to happen, this weekend Step 2 clubs enter the FA Cup at the Second Qualifying Round stage, alongside the clubs below them who are still permitted to allow supporters into matches.

So, what about the ticketing arrangements are for this weekend’s FA Cup matches, then? Well, this afternoon it seemed to be confirmed that the following would be allowed for them:

Elite Club v Elite Club – Match to be played behind closed doors
Elite Club v Non-Elite Club – Match to be played behind closed doors
Non-Elite Club v Elite Club – Home fans only allowed to enter
Non-Elite Club v Non-Elite Club – Home & away fans both allowed to enter

There is a certain amount of logic behind this. Home matches for non-elite clubs are likely to have considerably smaller attendances, at which social distancing should be easier. And larger travelling away supports should probably be dissuaded from travelling at the moment. But the desperation of clubs to try to earn something from their matches has shone a harsh light on a set of regulations which seem to have been drawn up as those who were writing them went along.

A couple of National League clubs – Dartford 9d the National League South and Wealdstone of the National League – have home matches this weekend, and both have advertised that they will be streaming the matches live in their bar for supporters who want to attend, subject to strict number limits, all of which leads us to the bizarre position of having supporters gathered together indoors, which is commonly assented to be less safe than congregating outdoors, in order to watch a match that is taking place literally behind a curtain from where they’re getting together.

Similarly ridiculous is the idea that one can apply a blanket solution across leagues and between divisions without expecting an immediate proliferation of outliers that make the solution look pretty daft. Elite clubs, we might think, have better facilities, crowd segregation and the general wherewithal to be well-placed to host matches under such restrictive circumstances. So why are matches involving Elite clubs having to be played behind closed doors (apart from away matches against Non-Elite clubs, which they’re merely banned from attending)? If the match is all-ticket and social distancing is strictly enforced, what does it matter which particular division a club is playing in this season?

There are any number of ways in which this could have been handled differently. The reason for treating “elite” and “recreational” clubs differently has not been adequately explained, still less treating clubs from Step 2 and Step 3 of the non-league game differently when they’re playing against each other. And it’s difficult not to reflect upon the National League’s “elite” status, no matter what the intentions behind that vote might have been during the summer.

But at this stage, the grim truth of the matter is that with each passing day it feels increasingly as though the idea of just buckling down and getting on with the 2020/21 season was a pipe dream borne of a combination of hopeless optimism and blind desperation. Like a shark that dies from a lack of oxygen if it stops moving, the football carousel has to keep turning, no matter how out of shape it might come to look. And with lower league clubs being unlikely to be able to test their players at anything like the levels of bigger clubs, it’s not difficult to imagine how, even if matches do start behind closed doors or even in front of reduced crowds, the coming season could become so clogged with postponements that we’re all wondering why anybody even bothered by the spring.

And yes, it is tough on the EFL to be critical in their handling of this crisis. Just as it’s the same with the clubs of the National League. But in years to come, should we have to reflect on this period as football’s night of the long knives, there will be culpability on all sides. In truth, the myth of “the football family” is finally being shown up for the PR sham that it always was. Everybody is grasping for a lifeboat, and the most needy will likely be elbowed aside in the rush. It’s unlikely that we’ll forget should it come to pass, and it still feels scarcely believable that it could come to this, but the depth of the English league system, its greatest asset and its greatest gift to supporters, could be set to be lost forever. And the cause of death won’t be Covid-19: it’ll be selfishness and inertia on the part of everybody who could have done something, but didn’t.

[Chester Perry]

It is looking like Sky are going to be the dominant broadcaster in Women's football after all the leg work put in by the BBC and BT, I expect the BBC to still do a highlights show though - from the Telegraph

Exclusive: Sky Sports expected to secure rights to show Women's Super League matches from next season
TOM MORGAN SEPTEMBER 30, 2020

The FA Women's Super League is expected to be on Sky Sports from next season after the broadcaster swooped with a landmark offer to take all coverage of the top tier from BT Sport.

Sky executives were tempted to the market after the FA developed a new strategy to increase revenue with the help of rights management specialists, Women’s Sports Group.

The soon-to-be-agreed deal comes three weeks after the WSL agreed a US rights deal with NBC, the American broadcaster owned by Sky's parent company, Comcast.

For the first time, all FA-controlled women’s football club and national team fixtures were made available for tender for the 2021-22 season and beyond. The process has yet to be officially closed, but Sky are believed to have outbid other broadcasters for most of the packages available. Sky declined to comment on the domestic agreement when approached by Telegraph Sport.

The FA had never before attempted to monetise the television rights for the elite level of women’s football in this country. Since the WSL’s launch in 2011, the FA has given coverage to the BBC and BT Sport for free, with the broadcasters covering production costs, in an effort to chase the largest possible audience over potential TV rights revenue.

After a host of high profile transfers, Sky is understood to believe there is huge scope for the women's domestic game to grow rapidly in the coming years. More than two million people tuned in to watch the BBC’s Women’s Football Show after football returned from its long lay-off due to Covid-19.

The WSL was on an upwards trajectory before the pandemic hit, with a string of games staged at men’s Premier League grounds in a bid to capitalise on the momentum of last year’s World Cup in France.

WSG was founded a year ago by Dame Heather Rabbatts, the first female non-executive director of the FA and a former member of Fifa’s anti-discrimination task force, and David Kogan. Media rights consultant Kogan co-founded Reel Enterprises, which says it has overseen more than £20 billion of sports rights sales for the Premier League, English Football League, Uefa and the NFL among others.

The new deal has been agreed ahead of the men's Premier League putting its latest domestic cycle up for tender, potentially in December. Insiders are predicting a potential £675 million drop off in value on the current £4.5 billion package. Valuations peaked in 2016, and, while Sky and BT still consider the league their most valuable offering, Covid-19 has accelerated a gradual fall in what remain astronomical fees.

Earlier this month BT Sport announced it was gearing up for its "biggest ever season of women’s football, with more Barclays FA Women’s Super League games than ever before".

Their coverage is currently led by presenters Clare Balding, Jules Breach, Natalie Quirk and Reshmin Chowdhury, alongside former England internationals Karen Carney and Rachel Brown Finnis, with commentators including Adam Summerton and Lucy Ward.

The FA said the tender process is ongoing.

[Chester Perry]

The Telegraph suggests things are now so desperate that the EFL is willing to taking a support package from the Premier League for Leagues 1 and 2 while further negotiations occur around the Championship

EFL willing to accept scaled down bail-out from Premier League to save League One and League Two only
TOM MORGAN SEPTEMBER 30, 2020

The English Football League would be willing to accept a cheque from the Premier League initially to save only League One and League Two while the top tier continues to debate how it should also bail out the Championship.

Concern is mounting in the lower tiers and at Whitehall that time is running out to save the most cash-strapped smaller clubs while the top flight continues to quibble about an overall £250 million rescue package.

The 20 Premier League clubs are broadly in agreement that they should further help the lower leagues, but excessive wage spending within the Championship remains a point of contention.

A counter-offer to the EFL’s £250 million request could take another week to be signed off within the Premier League. The world’s most wealthy domestic competition is almost certain to attach conditions that may then require further negotiation at the EFL’s end. As a result, several senior EFL figures are open to the prospect of a quick deal being agreed for the lower leagues while debate continues.

Potential requests from the big clubs over possible salary caps or support for the Premier League’s demands on post-Brexit foreign player quotas have yet to even be mooted to the lower divisions. In contrast, the Government has already assured the National League that it will prop clubs up over the coming months.

Kieran Maguire, a lecturer in football finance at the University of Liverpool, sympathises with smaller top-tier clubs, who claim they are already facing similar financial plights to those in the division below. Losses in the Premier League, which already signs off £350 million a year to EFL clubs via parachute and solidarity payments, are already nearing £1 billion.

“It would appear that the Premier League is willing to support clubs in lower divisions but the Championship is a sticking point,” Maguire said. “Between them Aston Villa, Derby County, Sheffield Wednesday, Reading and Birmingham generated nearly a quarter of a billion pounds from selling their stadiums to companies controlled by club owners in 2018. Given the large sums coming to these clubs, you can see the reticence of PL clubs from providing additional funding, although this is harsh on clubs such as Rotherham, Luton and Millwall who operate at much lower income and wage levels.”

Paul Barber, the Brighton chief executive, claimed football’s efforts to fight back against Covid-19 took “a gigantic step backwards” when plans to allow fans to return were postponed.

[Chester Perry]

The 5th Annual Sports Survey by PWC has been released and confidence relating to growth is very low over the short term

you can read the report here https://www.pwc.ch/en/publications/2020 ... y-2020.pdf

and here SportsProMedia.com gives a summary of what it believes are the key findings

Study: Sport’s annual growth rate to fall 5% in coming years
More than 25% of PwC Sports Survey respondents say industry was very poorly prepared for Covid-19.

Posted: September 30 2020 By: Sam Carp

- Covid-19 has meant revenue shortfalls between 30-40% for sports organisations
- Majority of respondents do not expect industry to fully recover until 2022/23
- Around half of those surveyed believe pyramidal system of sport ‘under existential threat’

The coronavirus pandemic will see the sports market’s annual growth rate slow from eight per cent to 3.3 per cent in the next three to five years, according to the results of a new study conducted by professional services firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC).

The latest edition of PwC’s Sports Survey, which received 780 responses across more than 50 countries, found that 30 per cent of respondents expect the growth rate to be zero or below.

Relative to other industries, just over a quarter of respondents said the sports industry was very poorly prepared to face the Covid-19 crisis, while a further 31 per cent answered ‘below average’ when asked how ready the sector was to cope with the pandemic.

As a result, the study estimates that Covid-19 has led to revenue shortfalls between 30 to 40 per cent among sports organisations.

‘The sports sector is just not used to external crises, as its major blowbacks often come from within the industry itself (eg corruption and doping),’ the study stated. ‘This has shaken the sense of security and untouchability in which the sector has wrapped itself in recent years.

‘In many instances, risk management and contingency plans were not in place. Shortsighted funding, cash flow and cost management practices were drastically exposed.’

In terms of the rebuilding process, just over 70 per cent of respondents do not expect the sports industry to have fully recovered to pre-Covid-19 levels until either 2022 or 2023.

Interestingly, respondents identified revenue from betting and fantasy as the key industry drivers in the next three to five years, with an anticipated yearly growth of 7.2 per cent, mainly due to the rapidly accelerating sports betting market in the United States.

Anticipated growth from sport’s historical revenue streams is much lower, with licensing and merchandising expected to climb at a rate of 3.4 per cent, media rights at 3.2 per cent and sponsorship and advertising at 2.2 per cent. Income from ticketing and hospitality is predicted to remain flat.

Indeed, just over half of respondents believe the pyramidal system of sports is ‘under existential threat’, requiring concerted action at all levels.

Around 70 per cent of those surveyed said sports organisations will consequently have an increased focus on diversifying their revenue streams, while 78.4 per cent acknowledged that the pandemic will see sports properties increase funding and efforts to accelerate their digital transformation.

‘The crisis essentially accelerated all underlying trends shaping the industry, bringing a wide range of emerging products and solutions to life,’ the report continued. ‘Sports organisations have multiplied experiments, giving rise to the first virtual stands, hybrid competitions, virtual player drafting, digital press conferences and summer tours.’

The study also asked respondents about the rapidly evolving sports media landscape and the ways in which content is being consumed, with the results highlighting some of the trends that had started to emerge before lockdown but have now been accelerated by the pandemic.

A whopping 90.5 per cent of those surveyed agreed that the consumption of highlights and short form content will either grow or grow significantly in the coming years, while respondents also identified athlete-generated content and sports documentaries as formats that will experience major growth.

In terms of where sports content will be consumed going forward, 86.1 per cent of respondents said social media platforms will experience the most growth, closely followed by aggregators like Apple TV+, pure streaming and over-the-top (OTT) offerings, and rights holders’ direct-to-consumer (DTC) products.

The outlook is less positive for traditional media outlets, with only 32 per cent of respondents expecting consumption on pay-television platforms to grow or grow significantly.

Despite the growth of non-live content types, nearly three quarters of respondents still expect premium live sports content to continue to generate value in the next three to five years, with 86.5 per cent saying that they expect the viewing experience to become more immersive and interactive.

In relation to how the sports media landscape will continue to evolve in the years ahead, 53 per cent of respondents said consumption will be a fragmented experience, involving numerous content distributors, while the remaining 47 per cent expect a handful of super-aggregators to dominate the market, with highly-consolidated content libraries.

‘Historically, the industry has drawn its commercial value from live sports,’ the study said. ‘The Covid-19 shock has weakened this, fostering the adoption of alternative content formats. This new pattern pushes sports properties towards shaping their content strategies beyond events, paving the way for omnichannel and multiplatform storytelling.

‘The acceleration in cord-cutting, piracy and audience fragmentation are putting tangible pressure on the value of sizable, exclusive media rights deals. This underlying threat raises important questions on how rights owners should approach exclusivity. We predict the near-term adoption of more diversified content distribution models, shaping a liquid market.’

Commenting on the overall findings of the survey, David Dellea, head of PwC’s sports business advisory, said: “In general, our study shows that the prevailing pessimism is cut by the many opportunities brought about by the crisis. This situation may favour the emergence of changes that have long been considered but never achieved to their full extent, whether it be hybrid sports, new revenue streams, drastic governance reforms or enhanced collaborative models.”

[Chester Perry]

There is nothing new in this report from the Times but it is worth noting as Tory MP's have been kicking off about the the Government bailing out Non League saying that the Premier League should be doing that - espcially when their spending in the summer window has now exceeded £1billion

Premier League looks for leverage before signing bailout for EFL clubs
Top-flight clubs stand firm over post-Brexit laws on signing young foreign players
Matt Lawton, Martyn Ziegler
Wednesday September 30 2020, 5.00pm, The Times

The Premier League wants the EFL to side with it against the FA on the recruitment of young foreign players post-Brexit before agreeing to a £200 million support package.

The government, which last week banned spectators from returning to stadiums for a further six months, has said that it will support clubs from the National League and below but expects the Premier League to use its wealth to bail out the 72 EFL clubs.

Sources have told The Times that the top-flight clubs are trying to exploit the desperation of the lower leagues to strengthen their position in negotiations with the FA over post-Brexit quotas for overseas players. One chairman of and EFL club likened it to “blackmail”.

While the Premier League is prepared to agree to a bailout for clubs facing potential financial ruin because of Covid-19, it is understood that it is insisting on certain conditions. Among those conditions is an agreement on curtailment, should the pandemic force a premature end to the season. The position, it seems, is to declare the campaign null and void if they have not played 75 per cent of the fixtures.

However, far more contentious is the debate over young foreign talent, aged between 18 and 21, and what criteria will need to be met by next summer before a club will be able to sign such an individual.

Until now the EFL has largely been in agreement with the FA on placing restrictions on the recruitment of young foreign players.

While the FA sees Brexit as a chance to create a system that provides more opportunities for young English players, EFL clubs often rely on selling homegrown talent they develop in their own academies to the Premier League. It would not be in their interests to see Premier League teams flooding their academies with foreign teenagers.

Premier League clubs want the EFL to support their position before parting with the bailout money they need to survive this period when fans remain excluded from stadia.

A meeting of the Premier League clubs yesterday was followed by discussions between the four divisions of the EFL today, with further talks planned for this week.

The Premier League clubs have been under pressure to underwrite losses of up to £22 million a month being posted by EFL sides since the government introduced new lockdown restrictions that delayed the return of fans.

Clearly they want something in return and Brexit is now the battleground, with football’s stakeholders required to agree on a new system that will be implemented at the end of this season.

The FA wants to have a Governing Body Endorsement (GBE) system for all overseas players, which sets various criteria to be given a work permit, and whether you are from an EU country or Brazil will be treated the same now that the UK is no longer in the EU.

It is believed that under the GBE proposal, 18 to 21-year-olds who are full internationals or play for leading clubs would get work permits, and the FA is also prepared to extend this to under-21 internationals.

The Premier League, however, wants a global free market from 18 upwards, claiming its clubs are already being put at a disadvantage because they can no longer compete with the leading European teams in the pursuit of 16 and 17-year-olds. They don’t want any criteria such as international caps, transfer fees or wages, which govern the existing GBE system.

The concern, of course, is that the Premier League clubs would then be able to flood their academies with lots of unproven 18 to 21-year-olds rather than develop English players or buy from the EFL.

In January, the EFL’s chairman, Rick Parry, said that Brexit changes should mean more opportunities for young English players at clubs in the Championship, League One and League Two.

He said: “Football is gradually waking up to the fact that new rules will apply, not least in terms of the Fifa rules with under-18s, that’s unavoidable, so that’s going to be a major change, work permits for European players.

“The positive for the EFL is we can offer a pathway for young, English players. We are really well placed for that, be it through an extension of the loan system or whatever it might be, so I view it as a positive opportunity for us.”

Today, a Premier League spokesperson declined to comment on private conversations. The FA also declined to comment.

[Chester Perry]

As a neat adjunct from the previous post - FIFA has released it's new guidelines and process for the transfer of minors in world football - something many of Europe's major clubs have fallen foul of in recent years

here is what FIFA has to say about it https://www.fifa.com/who-we-are/news/fi ... pplication

The actual document can be found here https://img.fifa.com/image/upload/lb2t6 ... 1pr5xs.pdf

[Chester Perry]

and here is a nice adjunct to that PWC Sports survey (and a problem that has become more and more talked about since Lockdown when Esports viewing numbers surged - they haven't really dropped off since live sport returned either.

The Sports Industry’s Gen Z Problem
The next generation of consumers isn’t following in the footsteps of sports-hungry millennials

https://morningconsult.com/2020/09/28/g ... ts-fandom/

[Chester Perry]

Interesting thread from the Chaps at Vysyble re invested capital in the Premier League - not sure many will accept the argument but the numbers are far from insignificant

https://twitter.com/vysyble/status/1311615540390133761

[Royboyclaret]

Interesting thread from the Chaps at Vysyble re invested capital in the Premier League - not sure many will accept the argument but the numbers are far from insignificant

https://twitter.com/vysyble/status/1311615540390133761

£94.72m at Burnley in '18/'19........Be interested to see some detail behind Vysyble's headline figure for us.

[Chester Perry]

£94.72m at Burnley in '18/'19........Be interested to see some detail behind Vysyble's headline figure for us.

I suspect it is a cumulative investment in the club for the period - players and infrastructure from which they calculate economic profit, though I suspect they have missed some asset sales

[Chester Perry]

The Football Today Podcast asks "is there really such a thing as the football pyramid?" Which sounds strange, but the blurb gives an insight to thte thinking

As the coronavirus continues to roil its way across the world, causing devastation in its wake, there is no area that is not affected.

Football is no different.

But to talk about an amorphous entity “Football” is one thing. The reality is quite different.

In English football, we like to talk about the football pyramid - a metaphor which conjures up the idea of a communal egalitarianism, a base springing from the grassroots and lofting its way all the way up to the Premier League.

With lower league football rocking on its heels, we ask: is there really such a thing as the football pyramid? And what does the top have to do with the bottom?

https://www.footballtodaypodcast.com/po ... d-its-base

[Chester Perry]

GameofthePeople.com argues that Football needs to look after it's own

Football needs to look after its own
GOTP Editorial Team - Posted on September 30, 2020

THE pandemic has delivered a few blows to football, not least the recent collapse of Macclesfield and problems at Droylesden. Add to that the demise of Bury and the alarm bells should be ringing very loud. The national media hasn’t really given it too much thought, but the CV-19 crisis has hit non-league very hard and given the often fragile nature of club finances, cast huge doubts about the sustainability of the game outside the Football League.

In the past, the non-league game was something of a nursery for bigger clubs and occupied a unique part of the eco-system (long before such phrases were invented). Quite often when small clubs were in trouble, pro clubs might donate some money to the cause, play a friendly to raise funds and, generally, adopt an attitude of generosity towards their junior neighbours. Some clubs still do, playing regular pre-season games and providing loan players and access to academy products.

When you consider how much revenue is generated at the top level, the cash flow crises of minor clubs could easily – on paper – be solved by the game’s behemoths.

Of course, these clubs are businesses and although they have allocated funds for charity and assorted good deeds, they would have to justify lending a helping hand, but the amounts involved need not be that big. And the positive PR that would be created by an elite club bailing-out the local non-league institution would be immense, changing the perception of big-time football and the people that run it – especially those that have faced questions about the motives of owners.

While some clubs have urged supporters to donate money to help them through the crisis, they are, effectively, going back to the same audience time and time again. Innovation is needed to introduce more cash to the non-league game in a time of intense pressure. Let’s not kid ourselves that football is a democracy, but surely, it is in everyone’s interest to maintain a healthy football structure?

If non-league clubs start to fall like dominoes, and there is a danger of that happening if their main source of income, matchday revenues, does not return soon, the roots of the game will dry-up and wither. And once club failure becomes commonplace, it could prove contagious and creep up the ladder to the Football League. As it is, many clubs live hand-to-mouth.

Perhaps there is a way out in starting a fund that provides a back-stop for clubs, a fund that is paid into by the elite to ensure those around them can prosper and possibly contribute to player development at the highest level?

Of course, non-league has to get its house in order and stop paying the sort of wages the clubs can ill-afford – any argument about sustainability has to begin with the question – how much of your income is spent on wages? After salaries, the other major question should be whether the current structure is the best geographical mix or has the crisis made it more vital to restrict non-league to more stringent regionalisation?

I was involved with a Hertfordshire-based non-league club for 20-plus years and it always puzzled me how a club from step three could travel 200 miles, setting out early on a Saturday morning, to play a game in front of 250 people. A game that would go largely unnoticed by the majority of people in the respective towns of the two teams. I particularly recall one trip where we hurtled north in our coach and were passed on the other side of the A1 by Bradford Park Avenue going south for a league game. That just didn’t make sense. Admittedly, we enjoyed going to faraway places, but the profit and loss on a fixture like that would have been interesting.

While a benevolent or crisis fund makes sense in some shape or form, clubs also have to start provisioning for rainy days and using prize money as emergency capital rather than bonuses. It cannot simply be “cash in, cash out” and hope for the best. I’ve long been an advocate for lower wages and restrictions around how much a club can pay, but that’s allowing the head to rule the heart. As we know, football is often run with the heart dictating the narrative and that invariably ends in tears and often even life-threatening for a club.

As matchday income is so crucial, non-league has to get started as soon as possible, but not behind closed doors. There is no imperative around broadcasting for the vast majority of clubs. Although this is controversial, clubs and leagues might also consider wage freezes until normality is restored.

Regardless of the practical challenges and hurdles facing non-league clubs, how dull would the world be if we didn’t have that vast family of little clubs, all corrugated metal, spindly floodlights and creaking turnstiles, that has produced some excellent players for the highest stage?

@GameofthePeople

This article first appeared in Football Weekends magazine.

[Chester Perry]

Leeds United who had an extraordinary Commercial Portfolio while in the Championship and who may now have the 7th largest in the Premier League believe that their Amazon documentary series helped with their growth. from SportsBusiness.com

‘It’s attracted partners and investors’ | Leeds United’s Amazon documentary
Adam Nelson, Europe office - October 2, 2020

- Documentary, produced by Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani’s Neo Studios, provides global showcase for club
- Chief executive Angus Kinnear says show has helped attracted international commercial partners
- Adds further string to bow of fan engagement touchpoints

Leeds United’s return to the Premier League after a lengthy absence was supposed to have been chronicled during the first season of Take Us Home, the documentary series produced by club owner Andrea Radrizzani’s Neo Studios and distributed globally by Amazon Prime in 2019.

That did not quite go to plan, however, as Leeds “did a Leeds” at the end of the documentary’s first season, throwing away a three-goal advantage to lose to Derby County in the play-off semi-finals.

Instead, the cameras were invited back for a second campaign as the team once again made a push for the Premier League, and the series concluded with two new episodes released this September, after the club finally achieved promotion to the top flight at the end of the much-delayed 2019-20 season.

Engagement for fans and investors
The show was not just intended to document Leeds’ on-pitch success. Radrizzani, who made his fortune in the sports media rights business as one of the founders of the now-defunct MP&Silva agency, had identified the potential of an internationally-distributed documentary to promote the club and engage a new audience, particularly younger fans who may not have remembered Leeds stint in the Premier League the first time around.

“Leeds United had been out of the Premier League for 16 years, and it’s the 16 years in which the Premier League has experienced the most incredible, rapid international growth,” says the club’s chief executive, Angus Kinnear. “I think for Leeds fans – and for Andrea – it’s frustrating that, with respect, clubs like Watford and Bournemouth have ended up with a bigger international profile.

“I don’t think Andrea’s intent was ever to make an advert, and it certainly wasn’t filmed that way, but we definitely thought that the story we had to tell, and the characters around the club, would give us a good platform to promote Leeds United, both domestically and to a wider audience.”

While Amazon does not release viewing figures, even to its partner production companies, Kinnear says he has seen top-level numbers to show that the documentary is performing strongly around the world. “We know that it’s built quite a footprint and that people who start watching it tend to watch to the end. It’s very unusual that people who are just being exposed to a brand are going to watch five hours of in-depth footage, so it’s not just delivered awareness of the club, but it’s delivered a depth of sell as well into what the club is all about.”

Kinnear has also used the series as part of his commercial sales pitch, saying that as well as helping to engage audiences, “it’s attracted partners and it’s attracted investment.” It is, he explains, something that the club can place alongside other more established points of fan engagement, such as its social media channels and season ticket sales, to demonstrate the levels of exposure it can offer a brand partner.

He says: “We’ve certainly used it with potential investors and it’s a very nice way when you’re in a dialogue with someone based in the Far East or Latin America, for instance, and they want to know more about the club and rather than presenting to them on PowerPoint over Zoom, you can say ‘take some time out and watch a couple of episodes and you’ll really get a feel for who we are and what we stand for and the power of the club and the city.

“It’s an excellent vehicle to drive awareness and it’s definitely given us a boost in awareness for commercial partners in territories where the name Leeds United had maybe fallen out of the spotlight a bit. We’ve had conversations with people who didn’t realise the scale of Leeds as a city, or that Leeds United was the only club in this huge city, or didn’t know that it had the international following that it does. Take Us Home has been ideal.”

Though Kinnear declines to name which brands were given the documentary showcase, Leeds secured international partnerships this summer with Asian betting company SBOBET, on a club-record £7m-a-year deal, and added a one-year deal worth £110k with Argentina-based President Energy.

Varied distribution
The international distribution offered by Amazon Prime was crucial in achieving those ambitions. Anouk Mertens, chief operating officer of Radrizzani-owned broadcaster Eleven Sports and executive producer on Take Us Home, says that the decision to produce the documentary was taken before any broadcast agreements were signed, but that discussions were subsequently held with “several streaming platforms around the world.”

In the end, none could match the global distribution platform or accessibility of Amazon Prime, particularly in some of the Asian territories which are viewed as a key market for the series. For the first season, Amazon had worldwide exclusivity, “because it gave us the broadest range of exposure and meant that we could focus on producing the documentary rather than trying to strike individual broadcast deals in individual countries,” says Mertens.

Amazon also has a wider range of existing sports content than its streaming rivals, and greater amounts of data on its customers, with its algorithm more likely to present the documentary to interested viewers. “One of the great things about the Amazon platform is that you end up watching things you never intended to watch, it really broadens your horizons” says Kinnear. “We can’t get viewing figures, but we do get a sense from the algorithms of where the show is being recommended, we get a sense of the profile of audience we’re getting.”

For the season series, with the product tried and tested and an audience secured, Amazon has exclusivity in the UK only. It is still distributing the show worldwide, but Neo has also secured additional broadcast deals with the likes of ESPN in Latin America, Supersport in sub-Saharan Africa and TVP in Poland, where Leeds’ popularity has grown recently thanks to the profile of midfielder Mateusz Klich.

“We knew there was an additional fanbase out there for the documentary who might come to it through different channels,” says Mertens. “It’s enabled us to do some interesting deals in territories where the Premier League is popular but Amazon has less subscribers, and hopefully get even more eyes on the series.”

Brand-building
Take Us Home takes a markedly different approach to the other big-name Amazon football documentaries in the All or Nothing series, which so far has featured Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur with their celebrity managers Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho and focused on coaching sessions, transfer sagas and dressing room tensions.

Leeds coach Marcelo Bielsa is almost entirely absent from Take Us Home – by his own choice – while even the players are largely on the periphery, as the documentary crew instead turn the cameras on the figures who worked behind the scenes to make promotion possible: the likes of Kinnear, director of football Victor Orta and communications director James Mooney. A significant amount of screen time is occupied by ordinary Leeds fans responding to games.

That decision was made to help build the brand of Leeds United and show what the emotions of being promoted back to the Premier League would mean in a one-club city, rather than focus on the minutiae of running a football team, says Kinnear.

“It was a deliberate choice to frame the documentary around the emotions of the two seasons, rather than focus on what was going on day-to-day at Thorpe Arch [the club’s training ground],” he says. “It wasn’t a documentary about the about technical preparation for matches, it was a very human-focused documentary about people and their aspirations and their hopes.

“We wanted to get fans engaged into a fantastic city and a fantastic club. It seems to have resonated with people more broadly than perhaps a more technical documentary where you’re watching Jose Mourinho managing training sessions, which is equally valid and I’ve enjoyed it a lot. But it’s a different type of film to what we wanted to make, which was one that had an appeal to very casual football fans.”

The presence of Oscar-winning actor and Leeds fan Russell Crowe as the documentary’s narrator clearly helps in that respect, as does the presence of Game of Thrones actor and fellow fan Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as a talking head on the series. “Russell was a key part of it,” says Mertens. “His presence immediately triggers audiences in Australia and New Zealand, and of course it really helps when he shares it on his social media, he maybe brings a different kind of audience who otherwise wouldn’t come to a documentary about an English football team.”

Discussions are ongoing as to whether a third season may be filmed to document the club’s first season back in the Premier League since 2004. Kinnear is unsure and says that the primary purpose of the documentary has been served by the initial run of Take Us Home. And as Mertens notes – “we called it Take Us Home: Leeds United. And now Leeds United is home.”

[Chester Perry]

And to cement my point about Leeds in the previous post - this from SportsBusiness.com

Cadbury adds Leeds to Premier League ‘top six’ deals
Matthew Glendinning - October 1, 2020

Newly-promoted Premier League club Leeds United has signed up chocolate brand Cadbury as the club’s Official Snacking Partner.

The deal with Cadbury parent Mondelēz International puts Leeds in the same company as the so-called ‘top six’ Premier League teams – Liverpool, Manchester United, Spurs, Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal – all of which signed with Mondelēz this year.

Cadbury was formerly a central sponsor of the Premier League but chose not to extend its contract this season and diverted funds into deals with the league’s biggest clubs.

As with its most-recent club deals, Cadbury will use the Leeds sponsorship to support local businesses, community projects and charitable campaigns across the 2020-21 campaign and seasons beyond.

Cadbury has donated its pitchside advertising rights at the club’s Elland Road stadium to support the Leeds United Foundation, and will offer the branding positions to other businesses during the turbulent economic period caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Paul Bell, executive director at Leeds United, praised the brand’s integration with the club’s community work, as evidenced by Cadbury offering some of their inventory to support the Leeds United Foundation.

The deal also means that Leeds United will play a part in the Cadbury’s ‘Match and Win’ promotion, which runs across more than 180 million Cadbury products, giving fans the chance to win club prizes, including hospitality experiences, match tickets and vouchers, as well as Cadbury prizes.

[Chester Perry]

following news earlier in the week about a 20% fall in International rights values the Bundesliga tries to grow it's South American audience via a free to view deal in 9 countries - from SportsProMedia.com

Bundesliga and OneFootball agree South America streaming deal
Digital soccer platform to provide free coverage of all matches during 2020/21 season.

Posted: October 1 2020 By: Tom Bassam

- OneFootball grows South American footprint with nine-territory deal
- Bundesliga able to add non-exclusive linear FTA distribution for certain matches

Digital media company OneFootball has agreed a nine-country broadcast partnership with the Bundesliga to provide live free-to-air digital coverage (FTA) of German soccer’s top flight.

Facilitated by global sports business agency Sportfive and agreed with Bundesliga International, which handles overseas rights sales for the German Football League (DFL), the deal sees all matches during the 2020/21 season made available for free via the OneFootball platform in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

The rights package also includes the German Supercup, as well as the league’s promotion and relegation matches at the end of the season.

In addition to the live broadcasts by OneFootball, Bundesliga International will make certain matches available to local and FTA linear broadcasters on a non-exclusive basis.

The arrangement adds to OneFootball’s previously agreed exclusive Bundesliga broadcast partnership in Brazil.

Lucas von Cranach, OneFootball chief executive and founder, said: "Our new partnership with Bundesliga International continues our mission to democratise football as OneFootball will now be streaming live action from one of the most exciting leagues in the world directly to fans for free throughout South America.

“The innovative model we are pioneering solidifies our presence in the market and offers a new generation of football fans readily available, personalised, live content at their fingertips.”

The one-year deal comes with the Bundesliga seeing a drop in revenue from its overseas rights deals for the 2020/21 season, with German sports business outlet Sponsors reporting that income from that sector is down 20 per cent on the previous campaign. Whilst the new contract adds to Bundesliga International’s list of broadcast partnerships it is purportedly bringing in €50 million (US$58.5 million) less than the €250 million (US$292 million) it secured last year.

[Chester Perry]

Telegraph with an article that gives American Private Equity the view that English football can now be managed in a financially responsible way - not that many seem to manage it

Extracting £23.5m for Rhian Brewster confirms Liverpool are master salesmen
CHRIS BASCOMBE OCTOBER 02, 2020

If Liverpool Sporting Director Michael Edwards ever tires of the Premier League, a career in Wall Street surely beckons.

His impressive sales portfolio grows with every transfer window.

Think of the £19 million for Dominic Solanke, £12.5 million for Danny Ward, £13.5 million for Ki-Jana Hoever, and now £23.5 million for Rhian Brewster, as he completes his move to Sheffield United.

These transactions are as eye-catching as the most celebrated incomings during the Jurgen Klopp era.

The four above were moved on for a combined £68.5 million with a mere 23 games between them. When you consider 21 of those Premier League appearances were for Solanke, such negotiating prowess suggests Edwards ought to be commissioned to rewrite ‘The Art of the Deal’.

Brewster’s is the latest sale to provoke a combination of admiration from some and incredulity from others that a youngster who never made a league start under Klopp commands such a valuation.

Plenty of others could be added to a considerable list, such as midfielder Kevin Stewart, a generally overlooked makeweight in the transfer which brought Andy Robertson to Anfield in 2017. Stewart headed in the opposite direction to Hull City for £8 million.

Ryan Kent, another who never featured in the Premier League, commanded £7.5 million when moving to Rangers 12 months ago, where he had earlier spent the season on loan for a small fee.

Rafael Camacho raised £7 million when joining Sporting Lisbon in 2019. Even more modest prices for Ovie Ejaria, Allan Rodrigues de Souza and Bobby Duncan brought a combined £8.5 million in 2019.

Beyond these headline figures there are always caveats, full disclosure of the terms of payment, how they are spread over how many years, and how much of a cut is going to agents (presumably quite a lot given Liverpool’s domination of that particular table) never completely broken down. Many transfers require players to meet pre-agreed performance markers for the full payment to be demanded - but obviously the selling club will focus on the higher figure, the purchaser giving the impression they have plucked a bargain when emphasising how little might ultimately be paid.

But even when taking all that into consideration, Liverpool’s ability to break even on the published transfer fees is part of what makes the Fenway Sports Group era a model others strive to imitate.

Their ability to nurture young talent so as to maximise their value in the event of a sale has become a hallmark. For all the attention on the £142 million secured for Philippe Coutinho when he moved to Barcelona - arguably the most important sale in the last 30 years of Liverpool given what happened when that cash brought Virgil Van Dijk, Alisson Becker and Fabinho to the club - the attention to detail at the lower levels is as important in ensuring Thiago Alcantara and Diogo Jota joined in 2020.

For the club accountants, this is essential for the ongoing financial health - especially at the moment.

For the supporters, there is a peculiar feeling of bragging rights that each major signing is part of the self-sustaining model.

Whether it matters in the grand scheme of things when a side is putting together a trophy collecting side, whenever rival managers claim Klopp has gone about building Liverpool in a similar manner to Manchester City or Manchester City or any others who consider 'net spend' an ambition rather than compulsion, this is clearly a falsehood.

There is an obvious advantage for a manager with an unlimited supply of cash who has no requirement to offload those he would rather keep in the event of an emergency.

Every penny Klopp has invested to create a title winning side can be accounted for because - at the moment - Liverpool are not only the most astute buyers in the Premier League, they appear to possess the most impressive salesmen, too.

[Royboyclaret]

Always had the impression that Edwards gives little or nothing away when negotiating a deal and, from Burnley's point of view, it's a pity that our target Harry Wilson happens to be owned by Liverpool. With the stance that we always apply, it's a bit like the immovable object meeting the irrestible force situation. Will they ever come to an agreement regarding selling price?....Not very long left in the window.

[Chester Perry]

It has been an interesting day in the Daily Mail when looking at the relationship between the Premier League and the Championship - it started with this
- Championship owners are actually quite rich don't you know

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... LLION.html

EDIT I provided a link rather than transcribed as the article contains a table that outlines the Championship club owners and wealth - some very big numbers - a fair number would be in the Premier League of Owner wealth (as would Salford's owner)

[Chester Perry]

and ended with this

Premier League power play may derail Championship breakaway with second tier keen to split from rest of EFL over TV cash, governance and salary cap
- The threat of the Championship breaking away from the EFL has led to suspicion
- Many teams in the second tier want to break away and form a new competition
- The coronavirus pandemic may now provide the reckoning that leads to the split
- But a Premier League bailout for the bottom two divisions would stop any exit
By MATT HUGHES FOR THE DAILY MAIL

PUBLISHED: 22:31, 2 October 2020 | UPDATED: 22:31, 2 October 2020

The irony has not been lost on executives in League One and Two, who have spent the last few months anxiously comparing notes about rumours of a shock Championship breakaway.

'They've been threatening to leave and now they're the ones who could be left in limbo,' was how one club chairman described it to Sportsmail on Friday. 'It would be funny if it wasn't such a mess for all of us.'

The threat of the Championship breaking away from the rest of the EFL has been the elephant in the virtual rooms in which the 72 clubs have gathered during Covid-19.

These disparate businesses from fallen giants like Nottingham Forest, to newcomers such as Harrogate, have one thing in common - protecting their own interests. And so suspicion is endemic.

Even as they assembled for a crisis briefing from the EFL on Wednesday the paranoia at some clubs was palpable.

'The Championship are up to something,' as one League Two executive put it. Many in the Championship are indeed keen to break away and form their own competition that is more closely aligned to the Premier League, eager to cast off smaller clubs they see as a drain on their resources.

Talk of a PL2 comes around regularly, but Covid-19 could provide the reckoning that leads to a seismic split.

Under EFL rules any club seeking to leave has to give notice by December 31, with their departure kicking in on June 30 the next year. But, for the moment, the rebels are wisely biding their time.

The last threat came two years ago when a group of 15 clubs led by Leeds, Aston Villa and Derby were beaten by the EFL Board, who persuaded the rest to vote for a new £595million TV deal with Sky which, over the last few months, has been the only thing keeping them in business.

That dispute centred on the big Championship clubs feeling their TV rights are undervalued, and that they are forced to give too much to smaller clubs whose matches are rarely broadcast.

Just £18m of the £119m annual rights fee paid to the EFL is distributed based on appearances so the bigger Championship clubs feel hard done by.

Championship clubs receive just £2.95m per season compared to £900,000 and £615,000 given to League One and Two clubs whose matches are barely broadcast, but other issues have emerged during the pandemic to fuel breakaway talk. A governance structure that needs a 51 per cent majority from the 72 clubs to implement change is an irritation to the Championship, whose wishes can be blocked by the bottom two divisions.

During lockdown there was a divergence between decisions taken by the Championship and the lower tiers on a variety of issues such as Covid-19 testing, curtailment and salary caps. This has led to a feeling that they should go their separate ways, or at least that Championship clubs should be given greater powers of autonomy.

There is also frustration in the Championship at the EFL leadership during the crisis.

While chairman Rick Parry is largely exempt from criticism many clubs feel that the EFL could have taken a tougher line with the Government on the return of fans and help from the Treasury in the form of VAT cuts and PAYE holidays.

As reported by Sportsmail there is also unhappiness over the composition of the EFL Board, particularly the fact that Derby chief executive Stephen Pearce is a director despite his club's disciplinary charges.

The previous Championship revolt came to a head quickly two years ago but this time the rebels will play a long game, although they will be ready to act if there are bankruptcies in League One or Two.

With three-and-a-half years left on the Sky deal any attempt to leave the EFL would put the clubs in breach of the contract and jeopardise their income, so the plan is to wait until such a point as a significant number of clubs in the bottom two divisions are unable to pay their players and/or fulfil fixtures.

A repeat of last season's League One and Two curtailment would play into the Championship clubs' hands, giving them the pretext to resign on mass from the EFL and negotiate their own TV deal.

EFL sources claim that many clubs will struggle to pay their players for October without outside funding so the next three weeks are pivotal.

A Premier League bailout for the bottom two divisions would remove this Championship exit strategy at a stroke however and the Premier League have made it clear that they have no interest in a PL2, due to their disdain at the financial mismanagement of many Championship clubs and a hostility towards sharing any more of their own £9bn TV contracts.

As well as squeezing the Championship, the Premier League's proposal would reduce pressure from Government and earn some kudos from the public.

A more focused bailout could also be relatively cheap, with League One and Two gate receipts amounting to around £6m-a-month including season tickets, some of which could be recouped if fans return later in the season.

For a few hundred thousand pounds each a month, top-flight clubs could effectively save the sport, and heap pressure on the Championship to back them. Not for the first time the Championship appear to be victims of a brilliant powerplay from above.

[Chester Perry]

I have said for a while that La Liga have been pushing their commercial opportunities hard - this season they are hoping to bring in Euro 110m in revenues - it is a huge portfolio of regional/sector deals - in contrast the Premier League is nore select and last season saw over £120m distributed to clubs - from SportsBusiness.com

LaLiga aims to top €110m in central commercial revenues in 2020-21
Matthew Williams - October 2, 2020

Spanish football’s LaLiga has set out its ambitions for commercial growth during the 2020-21 season, despite the continued uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The league reached €100m ($117.5m) in central commercial revenue over the 2019-20 season and is looking to add more than €10m to take the total past €110m.

The figure comprises revenue earned through central sponsorship and licensing deals, plus franchises.

LaLiga has recently added several regional sponsorship agreements.

Early in September, it signed with oil lubricant company Total in Argentina. This was followed by the addition of sports streaming platform Fanatiz in North America and gambling platforms, M88 and M-Bet in Asia and East Africa, respectively.

Pizza delivery brand Telepizza then signed up in a Spain-focused deal, before the arrival of another gambling firm this week in the shape of Parimatch in the CIS region.

The league’s sponsorship portfolio now totals 50, made up of seven global deals, 10 in Spain and 33 regional agreements.

SportBusiness understands that a Spain-focused deal with mobile network LG is likely to be announced in the coming weeks.

Merged commercial operations
The league has recently merged its international and national commercial operations across sales, licensing, activation and strategy. This move coincided with the arrival of Jorge de la Vega as head of commercial and marketing in May 2020.

Speaking to SportBusiness in his first interview since assuming the role, the former head of partnership activation at Real Madrid explained the thinking behind the restructure.

De la Vega said: “It makes more sense to have this new structure, it makes more sense than having people selling internationally and separate people within Spain and not sharing knowledge.

“It is really good to see LaLiga working in a very collective way.”

LaLiga’s presence across the globe, through its offices in several countries and global network of delegates, remains a cornerstone of its sponsorship strategy.

De la Vega said: “Fifty per cent of our commercial revenue is coming from outside Spain. We are continuing that strategy.

“In this moment, you have to be open to understand what is happening in different countries. For that, it is really key for us to have our international network. Having offices in so many places gives you the chance for that understanding and to react in a different way. Those local touchpoints help you to be really agile.”

Gambling is one category where LaLiga has been able to utilise regional sponsorships to maximise the value of its portfolio.

The recent deals with M88 in Asia, M-Bet in East Africa and Parimatch across the CIS region show how the league looks to split the category to work with different brands in different markets.

De la Vega added: “It’s a sector that’s not easy to close global deals, because not many betting companies are operating around the world.

“So we’ve got a big map of different markets. It’s an important sector for us because it’s immeasurable how much the engagement grows with some fans when betting [is involved]. It provides a different way of enjoying the content.”

LaLiga has four key pillars that underpin its criteria when it seeks to bring new sponsors on board. These are: deep regional market knowledge; a willingness to activate heavily and in a sophisticated way; appropriate deal value; and a willingness to make a long-term commitment.

De la Vega cited the recent addition of Telepizza as an example of the type of sophisticated activation the league is looking to participate in.

He said: “It is not just a question of exposure, it’s about how we can contribute to their marketing funnel. Telepizza is a really good opportunity to demonstrate that we can directly impact their business. We can learn a lot from this partnership about how to do that and conduct more sophisticated activation.”

[Royboyclaret]

It has been an interesting day in the Daily Mail when looking at the relationship between the Premier League and the Championship - it started with this
- Championship owners are actually quite rich don't you know

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... LLION.html

So confirmation, if we needed it, that all but three of the owners of Championship clubs are far more wealthy than ours at Burnley. Perhaps we should request a bail-out from the Championship in these difficult times....Wonder how that would go down?

[randomclaret2]

Exactly, transferring money to Championship clubs who are looking to replace us in the Premier League when we cant fund signings would be absurd

[Royboyclaret]

Exactly, transferring money to Championship clubs who are looking to replace us in the Premier League when we cant fund signings would be absurd

Particularly when the problems they have are, in many cases, down to mismanagement rather than the Covid situation. Obscene that clubs like Derby and Sheff Wed are seeking financial assistance from Burnley.

[Chester Perry]

The Daily Mail continues on it's theme of Premier League resisting help for the Championship - this is essentially a rewrite of the piece from last night, it contains a significant amount of new detail

Premier League threaten to cut Championship clubs out of proposed rescue package in move that may leave the EFL with a £190m shortfall
- There is a growing resistance from Premier League to help Championship clubs
- The top flight is threatening to cut Championship teams from a rescue package
- The Premier League are willing to give a series of short-term loans worth £60m
- Row comes amid informal talks in the Championship about an EFL breakaway
By MATT HUGHES FOR THE DAILY MAIL

PUBLISHED: 22:31, 2 October 2020 | UPDATED: 23:32, 2 October 2020

The Premier League are threatening to cut Championship clubs out of their proposed rescue package, leaving the EFL with a potential shortfall of £190million.

Sportsmail has learned that this week's talks between the Premier League and EFL focused primarily on the top-flight providing a bailout for clubs in League One and League Two amid a growing resistance to helping out the Championship.

While a final settlement has not been agreed, it is understood that the Premier League are willing to provide a series of short-term loans to cover lost gate receipts in the bottom two divisions that could total £60m by the end of the season - significantly less than the £250m the EFL are asking for.

The Premier League's tough stance on the Championship is due to their reluctance to support the top flight's curtailment proposals, introduce salary caps and back their demands for unregulated access to foreign players after Brexit.

Bailing out League One and League Two to preserve the status quo in the EFL would also make it harder for Championship clubs to pursue plans to break away that have gathered momentum during the Covid-19 crisis.

Amid much politicking the biggest bailout sticking point is how to deal with curtailment.

Premier League clubs are insisting that the Championship sign up to a proposal that there will be no promotion or relegation unless 75 per cent of fixtures are completed in both divisions.

Given Championship clubs play eight more games and are at greater risk of Covid due to less stringent testing, agreeing that threshold is proving problematic.

The bailout row comes amid growing informal talks in the Championship about breaking away from the rest of the EFL, with the Premier League's stance unlikely to be a coincidence.

The 20 elite clubs will discuss the issue at their next shareholders meeting on Tuesday before making a formal offer to the EFL.

While the EFL are seeking a £250m bailout to cover lost ticket revenue in all three divisions there is opposition among Premier League clubs to helping out those in the Championship on a matter of principle.

The Premier League have imposed a series of conditions on EFL clubs ahead of any rescue package, which it is clear that many in the Championship are unable or unwilling to meet.

As well as curtailment the reluctance of second-tier clubs to limit spending via a salary cap despite racking up combined losses of £600m-plus last year is a bone of contention. The Premier League are unhappy that salary caps were barely discussed at a meeting of the Championship clubs this week. Clubs in League One and League Two have agreed to bring in salary caps of £2.5m and £1.5m respectively this season.

Smaller clubs have no problem with the Premier League's demands for support in their fight with the FA for unfettered access to global talent after Brexit, as it is unlikely to affect them.

The Premier League want the ability to sign 18 to 21-year-olds from anywhere in the world after Brexit, whereas the FA are seeking to restrict such signings in an ongoing battle which could impact Championship clubs. If top-flight clubs are able to recruit globally it is feared they will be less likely to shop in the Championship, a major source of revenue for tier two.

Another source of tension is the practice of stadium sale and leaseback schemes, creating potential issues for the Premier League in the event of clubs who exploit the loophole being promoted. Aston Villa's sale of Villa Park to a company controlled by owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens was cleared by the Premier League after an inquiry this year, but top-flight clubs want the deals banned.

The Premier League have also made the point to the EFL that they already give solidarity payments (Championship clubs get £5m a season, League One £700,000, League Two £500,000) and parachute payments between £15m and £45m depending on when relegation happened.

Of the 24 Championship clubs Norwich, Bournemouth, Watford, Stoke, Swansea, Huddersfield and Cardiff will all receive additional parachute income this season, and there is little appetite to give them any more.

[Chester Perry]

Episode 7 of the Bundle Podcast from Unofficial Partner - this episode looks back at that very significant Claire Enders Interview, the impact Piracy is having on sports rights and whether the Premier League are capable of broadcasting matches OTT, and the commercial consequences of the Premier Leagues practice of providing free to air games in restart and so far this season - what had previously been considered valuable real estate has been revalued as virtually free.

https://www.unofficialpartner.com/podca ... e-bundle-7

fascinating discussion as usual and some seriously thought provoking observations for Premier League Club owners and investors as to the future of media broadcast deals - I sense an opportunity for the the Premier League to use Brexit as a means of extending the next domestic cycle to up to 6 years (requires political consent) as a means of preserving value for those rights

[Chester Perry]

Again from Unofficial Partner a blogpost about how the current situation has created a scenario where the previously unthinkable or ridiculous could now (as a result of fast changing social/economic/environmental circumstance) be considered as a legitimate way forward - the Overton window had just gained a huge burst of acceleration and could have striking consequences for sport and football,

https://www.unofficialpartner.com/post/ ... n-the-move

[Chester Perry]

the chaps at Vysyble pick up on the issue of Premier League Clubs willingness to support clubs in the Championship, by highlighting the overspend of those Championship clubs who managed to achieve promotion

https://twitter.com/vysyble/status/1312323615099162624

notice the correlation of overspend with the Premier League tv cycles - i.e. the view of the possible financial reward

Of course it is entirely possible to make a case that it is in the Premier League's interest for clubs joining them to be stronger thereby making their league more competitive. There is also the entirely understandable fear in the Championship that a salary cap, would make the transition for a team promoted to the Premier League too great a step, leading to an almost certain immediate relegation, and struggle for subsequent promotion, whereas clubs like ours would have greater opportunity, to return immediately, because of our strong foundations. This eventually leading to a churn of no more than 30 clubs, beyond which it would be virtually impossible to engage in the top tier.

[Chester Perry]

KPMG's Football Benchmark looks at what some consider to be the under-exploited area of Stadium naming rights as a commercial opportunity in these economically stricken times for European football

https://footballbenchmark.com/library/s ... ld_of_play

when I look at some of the existing values talked about here I see just how little naming rights are in football, especially if I compare the Euro 7.3m for the Bayern Munich's Allianz stadium and the yet to be built Co-op Live arena at the Etihad campus (circa 23k capacity) which is around £6.7m a year. Those numbers are remarkably similar though it appears one is expected to have a significantly higher public profile because of it's more versatile use.

[Chester Perry]

Somehow I missed this last month - UEFA has released a report on training facilities and youth investment across Europe

Introduction press release
https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/about-u ... nvestment/

the full report

https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/uefatra ... landscape/

[Chester Perry]

Another poorly argued case for the Premier League to bail out the EFL that uses Sean's comments as a battering ram, without understanding the environment within which he exists and is constrained by and comparing that to those he was been asked to save.

https://theconversation.com/why-england ... ues-147155

- there are many good reasons for the Premier League to support Leagues 1 and 2, even a few for the Championship (almost all revolving around the competitiveness of newly promoted teams).

I have yet to come across one that justifies to me the helping of Bolton, Sunderland (both self inflicted messes of owner largesse) and Salford (owners with a combined wealth circa £10 billion) in Leagues 1 and 2 (there are probably a few others too), and the vast majority of the Championship (I struggle beyond Wycombe, Luton and possibly Millwall and Rotherham).

There is need a need (as I argued back in March when this all kicked off, and a number of times prior to that) to get the framework of operation in order before support is given - it must be that way as that will be the only way it can be made too happen, which is now purely down to the selfishness of owners in the EFL, not the Premier League. Arguments about the lack of resolution in the FA and Football League nearly 30 years ago together with repeated failings in the leadership of both organisations since while historically relevant have little place in the fixing the here and now.

[Chester Perry]

If anyone can transcribe this article I would be grateful - Steve Parish is the first Premier League owner to speak on the issue of bail-out to the pyramid

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/no-o ... -tqxf9vl2z

[Chester Perry]

Great thread from @SportingIntel looking a the Covid financial implication and why The government not the Premier League should be the source of a financial support to the pyramid

https://twitter.com/sportingintel/statu ... 9731246080

It is interesting that many EFL clubs share the thinking that it is the government not the Premier League who should be doing this (it could be an unspoken fear of what else they would have to give up to the Elite clubs - not that there is much left) - it represents a recent change in perspective in the media which for much of the crises has bought into the politician's view - football must have been working hard with them in the background to bring this turnaround

This was from the Mail last night and there is that Steve Parish piece above

'We could go bust by January if the Government doesn't help': EFL clubs make desperate plea for a rescue plan amid fears they could go out of business with no fans in stadiums... but ministers are still calling on the Premier League to bail them out
- Some clubs fear their future without supporters or external assistance quickly
- A poll of EFL clubs show the majority believe the government should help them
- Government source says it expects the EFL and Premier League to work together
By NICK HARRIS AND JAMES SHARPE FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

PUBLISHED: 22:30, 3 October 2020 | UPDATED: 22:31, 3 October 2020

A majority of the Football League believe the Government rather than the Premier League should take primary responsibility for helping them avoid an impending financial crisis, according to a Mail on Sunday survey of the 72 clubs below the top tier.

The most dire forecasts from those who responded were from a group of League One and League Two clubs who fear that without fans or any external assistance, they may go bust by early 2021.

‘Things could get extremely difficult as early as January,’ one club told us, asking for anonymity. ‘There would be a possibility of going out of business.’

Andrew Parkinson, the chief-executive of League One side Plymouth Argyle, hopes a rescue plan can materialise. But he added: ‘We can manage to play games without fans but it is not indefinite... if we stop football completely, survival without revenue and continued fixed costs such as player wages would make the situation untenable.’

Yet in a body blow to any chance of a swift funding resolution, a Government source has told this newspaper: ‘We are aware of the strength of feeling but help has already been provided via the furlough scheme and other business assistance. It has been made clear we expect the Premier League and EFL to work out a solution between them.’

The source said the decision to prevent fans attending games was under constant review and they may be back sooner than expected if Covid-19 stops spreading.

German clubs allowed limited crowds back last month and yesterday 11,000 saw Borussia Dortmund host SC Freiburg.

It is felt that fans are only being kept away here because of ‘the optics’. One source said: ‘It seems ridiculous that thousands are congregating indoors at supermarkets, gyms, pubs, restaurants and cinemas but meticulously organised outdoor gatherings of a small part of a stadium capacity can’t go ahead. This Government just seems to have a problem with football.’

The MoS survey asked each club how much revenue they would lose if no fans attend games this season; how many jobs might be at risk; whether they might go bust, and when; how they have helped their communities during the pandemic; and what assistance they would like, and from where.

Northampton Town of League One’s response to the last question was broadly echoed by every club who responded. A spokesman said: ‘We would look to the Government for assistance — our industry has been restricted from trading by decisions taken by the Government... All solutions need to be considered and if the Premier League can distribute funds down the pyramid without it placing their own clubs at risk then this should be explored.’

PL clubs will lose more than £800million from matchday and related income without fans this season, and hundreds of millions more in rebates to TV companies.Richard Masters and Rick Parry, respectively the chief-executive of the PL and chairman of the EFL, have already held face-to-face talks about how the PL can help. The EFL say £250m will make up the £50m losses their 72 clubs incurred in 2019-20 plus £200m forecast losses for 2020-21.

But the PL, while committed to helping, are reticent to give away money without guarantees it will save clubs in genuine peril, and believe the Government should chip in. The PL already gives EFL clubs more than £400m annually in parachute payments, solidarity fees and academy grants. In this transfer window, PL clubs have spent £200m on EFL players, boosting coffers, albeit mainly in the Championship, and will likely spend more in the ‘extra domestic window’ that lasts a fortnight.

‘There’s also pushback from clubs expected to struggle this season about giving away millions to clubs challenging for Championship promotion,’ said one source. ‘It seems illogical to give a handout to a club that is effectively your direct rival for a place in next season’s PL.’

Brighton chief-executive Paul Barber added: ‘It’s not simple and there is a huge amount of money that flows from the PL to the EFL. Because of promotion and relegation it’s even more complex. It sounds selfish but it’s not: our first priority and my fiduciary responsibility... is to protect my own business and staff. But that’s not to say I don’t care about clubs outside the PL. I absolutely do.’

Ten Championship clubs have billionaire owners and only four have fortunes lower than £100m.

The case for Government help for the EFL is compelling in terms of what clubs contribute to their communities and the exchequer. The 72 clubs provide some 15,000 jobs directly, collectively, and pay around £500m in taxes a year, and help to generate hundreds of millions of pounds per season to local businesses on match days.

Without exception, every club responding to our survey has directly helped the NHS this year (providing premises or donations), helped fans and / or delivered food packages, medicines or PPE.

The EFL clubs told us, depending on size, they would require between £500,000 and £15m to recoup lost matchday income with no fans this season. Government intransigence might change, one source said, if the PL made a specific pledge of funds, but only if it was match-funded by the people stopping fans going to games: the Government.

[Chester Perry]

You have to be cautious about the media outlet here and it's reasons to launch such a story - but if this is true then there is still much to be concerned about in regards to Qatar's World Cup preparation

https://www.foxnews.com/world/qatar-cor ... -world-cup

[The esk]

Great thread from @SportingIntel looking a the Covid financial implication and why The government not the Premier League should be the source of a financial support to the pyramid

https://twitter.com/sportingintel/statu ... 9731246080

It is interesting that many EFL clubs share the thinking that it is the government not the Premier League who should be doing this (it could be an unspoken fear of what else they would have to give up to the Elite clubs - not that there is much left) - it represents a recent change in perspective in the media which for much of the crises has bought into the politician's view - football must have been working hard with them in the background to bring this turnaround

This was from the Mail last night and there is that Steve Parish piece above

'We could go bust by January if the Government doesn't help': EFL clubs make desperate plea for a rescue plan amid fears they could go out of business with no fans in stadiums... but ministers are still calling on the Premier League to bail them out
- Some clubs fear their future without supporters or external assistance quickly
- A poll of EFL clubs show the majority believe the government should help them
- Government source says it expects the EFL and Premier League to work together
By NICK HARRIS AND JAMES SHARPE FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

PUBLISHED: 22:30, 3 October 2020 | UPDATED: 22:31, 3 October 2020

A majority of the Football League believe the Government rather than the Premier League should take primary responsibility for helping them avoid an impending financial crisis, according to a Mail on Sunday survey of the 72 clubs below the top tier.

The most dire forecasts from those who responded were from a group of League One and League Two clubs who fear that without fans or any external assistance, they may go bust by early 2021.

‘Things could get extremely difficult as early as January,’ one club told us, asking for anonymity. ‘There would be a possibility of going out of business.’

Andrew Parkinson, the chief-executive of League One side Plymouth Argyle, hopes a rescue plan can materialise. But he added: ‘We can manage to play games without fans but it is not indefinite... if we stop football completely, survival without revenue and continued fixed costs such as player wages would make the situation untenable.’

Yet in a body blow to any chance of a swift funding resolution, a Government source has told this newspaper: ‘We are aware of the strength of feeling but help has already been provided via the furlough scheme and other business assistance. It has been made clear we expect the Premier League and EFL to work out a solution between them.’

The source said the decision to prevent fans attending games was under constant review and they may be back sooner than expected if Covid-19 stops spreading.

German clubs allowed limited crowds back last month and yesterday 11,000 saw Borussia Dortmund host SC Freiburg.

It is felt that fans are only being kept away here because of ‘the optics’. One source said: ‘It seems ridiculous that thousands are congregating indoors at supermarkets, gyms, pubs, restaurants and cinemas but meticulously organised outdoor gatherings of a small part of a stadium capacity can’t go ahead. This Government just seems to have a problem with football.’

The MoS survey asked each club how much revenue they would lose if no fans attend games this season; how many jobs might be at risk; whether they might go bust, and when; how they have helped their communities during the pandemic; and what assistance they would like, and from where.

Northampton Town of League One’s response to the last question was broadly echoed by every club who responded. A spokesman said: ‘We would look to the Government for assistance — our industry has been restricted from trading by decisions taken by the Government... All solutions need to be considered and if the Premier League can distribute funds down the pyramid without it placing their own clubs at risk then this should be explored.’

PL clubs will lose more than £800million from matchday and related income without fans this season, and hundreds of millions more in rebates to TV companies.Richard Masters and Rick Parry, respectively the chief-executive of the PL and chairman of the EFL, have already held face-to-face talks about how the PL can help. The EFL say £250m will make up the £50m losses their 72 clubs incurred in 2019-20 plus £200m forecast losses for 2020-21.

But the PL, while committed to helping, are reticent to give away money without guarantees it will save clubs in genuine peril, and believe the Government should chip in. The PL already gives EFL clubs more than £400m annually in parachute payments, solidarity fees and academy grants. In this transfer window, PL clubs have spent £200m on EFL players, boosting coffers, albeit mainly in the Championship, and will likely spend more in the ‘extra domestic window’ that lasts a fortnight.

‘There’s also pushback from clubs expected to struggle this season about giving away millions to clubs challenging for Championship promotion,’ said one source. ‘It seems illogical to give a handout to a club that is effectively your direct rival for a place in next season’s PL.’

Brighton chief-executive Paul Barber added: ‘It’s not simple and there is a huge amount of money that flows from the PL to the EFL. Because of promotion and relegation it’s even more complex. It sounds selfish but it’s not: our first priority and my fiduciary responsibility... is to protect my own business and staff. But that’s not to say I don’t care about clubs outside the PL. I absolutely do.’

Ten Championship clubs have billionaire owners and only four have fortunes lower than £100m.

The case for Government help for the EFL is compelling in terms of what clubs contribute to their communities and the exchequer. The 72 clubs provide some 15,000 jobs directly, collectively, and pay around £500m in taxes a year, and help to generate hundreds of millions of pounds per season to local businesses on match days.

Without exception, every club responding to our survey has directly helped the NHS this year (providing premises or donations), helped fans and / or delivered food packages, medicines or PPE.

The EFL clubs told us, depending on size, they would require between £500,000 and £15m to recoup lost matchday income with no fans this season. Government intransigence might change, one source said, if the PL made a specific pledge of funds, but only if it was match-funded by the people stopping fans going to games: the Government.

It is interesting that the £250 million requested/demanded by the EFL is less than 1% of the total estimated net worth of all the EFL Club major shareholders. Whilst clearly a number of clubs do not have significantly wealthy owners, there is sufficient wealth across the League to make a meaningful contribution to their own competition and thus the welfare of their own clubs.

[Chester Perry]

@SwissRamble with a thread looming at Football club debt with a specific focus on the big 6 in the Premier League

https://twitter.com/SwissRamble/status/ ... 4799229954

It is a great introduction to the subject for all us non accountants/financial officers