Premier League to debate new EFL deal as regulator looms | Money news

The Premier League is drawing up plans to present its clubs with new proposals for a financial agreement with the English Football League (EFL) next month.

Sky News has learned that a top-flight shareholders meeting on November 22 is expected to include a debate on a series of new offers to be made to the rest of the professional football pyramid.

The meeting will take place a month after the government introduced legislation paving the way for the creation of an independent football regulator that will have the power to impose a far-reaching financial deal for the sport.

Insiders said the Premier League had recruited a team of heavyweight consultants, including Global Counsel, the lobbying firm founded by Lord Mandelson, to advise it on issues including the new regulator.

One cautioned that the formal agenda for the Nov. 22 meeting had not yet been finalized.

However, several club executives said they expected it to appear amid growing demand from some Premier League shareholders to present a revised deal to the EFL board, chaired by Rick Parry.

“Getting a deal now that the EFL agrees would offer a five-year solution, meaning it is settled in the medium term and out of the regulator’s hands,” said one top-flight club executive.

“A sensible agreement is now more likely to gain the support of 14 clubs (the majority needed),” they added.

Protracted discussions in the Premier League over an £836m deal to distribute a proportion of commercial revenue to the Championship, League One and League Two stalled in March due to a deadlock between their clubs.

The 20 top-flight clubs, including Aston Villa, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, had been debating various versions of a ‘New Deal’ for more than a year that included proposals to increase the tax on player transfers.

The most recent plan, which was never formally presented to the EFL, included provision for an immediate payment of £44m to the lower leagues, followed by a further £44m within months.

This £88m, however, would have been presented as a loan which the EFL could repay over a period of more than six years.

The Premier League had decided to make the vote independent of any conditions attached to a broader financial reform of English football, alarming several top-flight owners.

At one point in autumn 2023, he looked close to agreeing a £925m deal.

However, last December, Premier League chief executive Richard Masters notified clubs that he was temporarily suspending talks with the EFL due to internal divisions over the scale and structure of the proposed deal.

Next month’s meeting is set to address many of the pressing issues facing English football’s elite, including possible amendments to the rules on transactions between associated parties following Manchester City’s recent arbitration proceedings.

Both the Premier League and its current champions claimed victory after the ruling, deepening the sense of civil war engulfing the top flight of English football.

Allegations that Manchester City committed 115 breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules are being examined in a separate case, which remains ongoing.

Changes to the treatment of shareholder loans to clubs, which would affect a significant number of Premier League teams, will also be discussed next month.

The Premier League declined to comment on Saturday.

Headline: Premier League to debate new EFL deal as regulator looms

Standfirst: English football’s top flight has hired the lobbying firm founded by Lord Mandelson as it prepares to negotiate a new deal with the lower leagues, Sky News learns.