Premier League debates new EFL settlement as regulator looms

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

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

The meeting will come 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 on the sport.

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

One warned that the formal agenda for the November 22 meeting had not yet been finalized.

However, several club executives said they expected the deal to take place amid growing demands from some Premier League shareholders to submit a revised deal to the EFL board, chaired by Rick Parry.

“If a deal is struck now that the EFL accepts, it would provide a five-year solution, meaning the medium-term solution is resolved and beyond the reach of the regulator,” said a top club director.

“A sensible deal is now likely to have the support of fourteen clubs (the required majority),” she added.

Longstanding discussions in the Premier League over an £836m deal to split a share of commercial revenues between the Championship, League One and League Two came to a standstill in March due to a standoff between the clubs.

The top 20 clubs, including Aston Villa, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, had been issuing different versions of a ‘New Deal’ for more than a year, which included proposals for a higher levy on player transfers.

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

However, this £88 million would have been offered as a loan to be repaid by the EFL over a period of more than six years.

The Premier League had decided to make the vote independent of any conditions attached to a wider financial reform of English football, which alarmed some top owners.

At one point in the autumn of 2023, a £925m deal looked close.

However, last December, Premier League CEO Richard Masters informed clubs that it was temporarily suspending talks with the EFL due to internal divisions over the size and structure of the proposed deal.

Next month’s meeting is scheduled to discuss many of the pressing issues facing English football’s elite, including future changes to the rules for related party transactions following Manchester City’s recent arbitration proceedings.

Both the Premier League and the current champions claimed victory over the ruling, reinforcing the sense of civil war engulfing the top tier of English football.

Allegations that Manchester City committed 115 breaches of Premier League financial rules are being dealt with in a separate case, which is still ongoing.

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

The Premier League declined to comment on Saturday.

Headline: Premier League debates new EFL settlement as regulator looms

Standfirst: English football’s top brass has called in the lobbying firm founded by Lord Mandelson as it prepares to strike a new deal with the lower leagues, Sky News has learned.