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Radical plan to shake up Premier League

Liverpool and Manchester United have come up with a radical plan to shake up the Premier League which would see it reduced to 18 clubs: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54499998

The plan is being opposed by the league itself, but is expected to attract the backing of the other top six clubs who have been involved in talks.  They would have special voting status, alongside three other clubs with a long-term Premier League record (Everton, Southampton and West Ham United).   Changes could be made with the support of just six of these nine long-term 'shareholders'.

The EFL would get its £250m bailout package and 25 per cent of all future revenue, but the highly distorting parachute payments would be scrapped.   Another sweetener is fan away tickets to be capped at £20.

Football finance guru Kieran Maguire is concerned that every time Championship clubs get more money they spend it on wages.  He also thinks a big issue is that the top six would get a bigger share of Champions League money, but others have argued they get most of it anyway.

He also notes, 'Another interesting snippet from Project Big Picture is that PL clubs will be able to sell their own TV rights for 8 games a season internationally. This will reduce the value of the centrally negotiated overseas TV deals and concentrate more money in the hands of the big clubs.'

Maguire has suggested a levy on betting and another one on transfers.

Football journalist David Conn sees some merit in the proposal: https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2020/oct/11/plan-to-mend-the-great-crack-in-football-pyramid-should-not-be-swept-off-the-table

Seven of these nine clubs are foreign owned, while Tottenham Hotspur's owner is resident in the Bahamas.

At the moment the top club owns 1.8 times as much as the bottom club from Premier League deals.  This could become four times as much, enriching the top six.   It has been argued that one of the attractions of the Premier League as it is now organised is that it is very competitive and that would be undermined by the 'Project Big Picture'  plan.   Some see it as a trojan horse for a European Super League.

However, EFL chairman Rick Parry sees it as a means of closing the gap between the top of the Championship and the bottom of the Premier League.   The plan would see two up, two down but a play off between the 16th placed Premier League club and those placed third, fourth and fifth in the Championship.

The plan got short shrift from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, a spokesman denouncing 'backroom deals cooked up that would create a closed shop at the very top of the game.'

Such has been the strength of opposition that the plan may never get off the ground.   However, football expert Chris Anderson reckons it merits serious discussion - unacceptable in its present form, but what would a compromise look like?


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