FA Cup cash revamp could help all clubs to benefit
THE FA Cup could be in line for its biggest financial shake-up ever – and that may provide a cash boost to EFL clubs.
The Football Association are believed to be debating radical plans to do away with live broadcast fees for selected television matches and instead sizeably enhance the prize fund, meaning more clubs share the competition’s wealth.
First round winners currently bank £18,000, which increases to £27,000 in the second. Winners from this weekend’s tie take home £67,500 – and it is understood those figures could be at least doubled in the years ahead.
Third round matches selected for TV this weekend have enraged many after every single Non-League club was ignored and what are seen as more attractive games involving EFL sides have also been shunned.
That rejection cost clubs a £144,000 live fee – with Premier League heavyweights Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham again all chosen.
Saturday’s match at Old Trafford with Championship Reading is the 55th successive time 12-time winners Manchester United have been broadcast live in the FA Cup.
Non-League sides in particular have taken the brunt of the scheduling decisions. Sutton United, Barrow and Stourbridge, three of five in action yesterday, have all gone public with their disappointment that their ties were over overlooked for the lucrative live slot.
The FA have no say in which matches are selected, with the BBC and BT Sport executives given free-rein to pick the ties they want to show.
Discomfort has been growing for quite some time with the country’s rich clubs getting richer and the romance of the competition ignored because of such rating chasing – but, according to
The Times, that could be about to change.
Under new proposals, the television fees would be abolished, with prize money across the board being substantially increased.
The FA recently agreed a six-year TV deal for overseas rights worth in the region of £820m.
It is being reported that the governing body have recognised the fact that some of the biggest clubs in the land continue to be chosen - and thus pick up the lucrative television fees – while clubs lower down the pyramid are missing out on what could be a crucial amount of money for them.
It is understood that a standard TV fee of some sort may still be given to clubs. This would be a form of compensation due to the extra costs for a broadcast taken into consideration – as well as the fact that a television match could impact on attendances.