TIME TO SHARE THE WEALTH
AT THE start of every season when Non-League clubs up and down the country are putting together their financial and playing goals for the year, there will be few that do not utter the words “a cup run would be nice”.
For every Havant & Waterlooville playing Liverpool at Anfield or, as we saw last season, Chichester City taking on Tranmere Rovers live on TV, there are hundreds of clubs every season for whom the road to Wembley is shut by the end of August.
Two seasons ago the FA drastically increased the prize money in the competition, including the introduction of payments made to the losing clubs in the first few rounds of the qualifying competition. Many clubs actually make a loss from playing in the competition, and whilst money shouldn’t be the main motivator, the assurance that there would be a share of the prize fund has made a positive contribution to the NonLeague game.
week the FA announced that the prize fund would be cut by 50 per cent for the coming season, reflecting the belt-tightening needed within their own organisation during these challenging times. Nobody denies that times are tight in football, but the clubs that are feeling the pinch of six months without competitive football, by the time we restart according to the latest plan, are those that will be impacted the most by the reduction in prize money from the world’s oldest cup competition.
The prize money reduction in the 612 qualifying round ties this season will be £1.99m. Whilst some will argue the fairness in reducing the prize money for all clubs in all games, the Non-League clubs coming out of an extended period of zero revenue will be the hardest hit and many have called this week for a rethink of the prize money distribution.
Like most Non-League clubs, Lewes do not budget for any cup revenue above the minimum we can earn, which this season is now £750 as a first qualifying round loser. Before we can
welThis come fans back to The Dripping Pan, we have to make the venue safe and compliant with Government guidelines for social distancing and hygiene. That means we have a significant increase in our costs and potentially a decrease in our match day revenues as our capacity may be capped and hospitality functions may not be able to operate as they were previously.
The 50 per cent decrease in FA Cup revenue comes at a time when we, like hundreds of other Non-League clubs, need it most. However, there are solutions to the dilemma that do not involve finding extra funds to put into the prize pot.
One idea would be for the semi-finalists and subsequent finalists to agree to a bigger revenue cut to the prize fund. This season £5.4m will be won by the teams who reach the final four but by reducing that prize fund by 37 per cent and distributing that back to the qualifying rounds, football becomes more equitable. In the last five seasons, the FA Cup semi-finalists have all been Premier League sides. This season’s four all appear in the Forbes Top 20 Richest Football Clubs in the World and the FA Cup winners, Arsenal, have revenues of close to £400m per annum.
I am sure other clubs will have other more radical ideas such as reducing the prize money from the third round onwards (a 14 per cent reduction from the third round onwards would create the £3.9m for the Non-League game) or even not offering any prize fund at all from the semi-final onwards – it should be noted that 32.5 per cent of the net gate receipts are shared between the two clubs which in itself is a non-trivial matter.
Nobody is denying that we are in exceptional times but this is also a perfect opportunity to ensure that the NonLeague game is not adversely affected by a decision that penalises us more than the
pro game.