The cost of screening Premier League football at home and abroad has rocketed since 1992
TOP FIVE LEAGUES: BROADCASTING INCOME PER CLUB
League | Revenue per club (£m) | % Total club revenue |
---|
Premier League | £143.2m | 53% |
La Liga | £66.6m | 42% |
Bundesliga | £60.3m | 34% |
Serie A | £54.0m | 47% |
Ligue 1 | £31.1m | 37% |
Source: UEFA Benchmarking Report 2019 | | |
‘Places such as Blackpool, Scunthorpe, Plymouth, Gillingham, Mansfield, Blackburn and Hartlepool to name just a few that we are proud to have amongst our membership and whose fans should also dare to dream.’
Most of those towns are widely considered to include crucial ‘Red Wall’ seats, which historically supported the Labour Party, but have been won by the Conservatives at General Elections and by-elections since 2017, supporting the Government's current majority.
The Tories success at the next election may well depend on those constituencies voting Tory again.
Football clubs are important for the economies and wellbeing of communities, and their demise has a huge impact. If the local football club goes bust it would be politically damaging.
WHY DOES THE EFL WANT TO ABOLISH PARACHUTE PAYMENTS?
Parachute payments aim to bridge the gap between the hugely rich Premier League and less wealthy Championship.
The idea is that clubs need to pay more in players’ wages to compete in the top flight, but that leaves them vulnerable if they go down. They could be saddled with contracts they can’t afford.
So, clubs relegated from the Premier League receive up to £45M in the first year after they go down and as much as £90M over three years.
In contrast, a club that does not benefit from parachute payments receives just £4.5M from the Premier League in a solidarity payment.
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Watford have introduced relegation clauses into new contracts in case they go down
Not surprisingly, a relegation bonus of tens of millions of pounds increases a club’s chances of promotion.
Research from Sheffield Hallam University has revealed that clubs receiving parachute payments are twice as likely to go up and twice as likely to avoid relegation as those that don’t. It is a huge advantage.
Inevitably, other clubs start spending more to compete, which is why second tier teams are stuck with eye-watering debt.
There are alternative ways of dealing with the problem. Promoted clubs could consider writing relegation clauses into contracts so a player’s pay falls if the club goes down.
This season, Watford have introduced 50 per cent salary reduction clauses into new contracts, in case of relegation, to help keep the club sustainable in the future.
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Clubs that receive parachute payments are twice as likely to be promoted to the top flight
Making similar clauses a requirement in the Premier League would provide a relegation cushion.
The EFL wants the money currently spent on parachutes to be included within a £750M annual payment to the EFL clubs, which would be distributed among all 72 teams.
That could also fund an expanded merit system. Currently, Prem clubs are rewarded for each place they climb in the final top-flight table. It could be extended to the Championship, so clubs finishing near the top of the division are better placed to step up.
EFL chairman Rick Parry believes the financial gap between the second and top tiers could be halved from around £80M to about £40M. Not ideal, but more manageable.