EFL: NEW TV DEAL A MISSED OPPORTUNITY

THE EFL have hit out at the government for missing a chance to alter football’s ‘unbalanced, unsustainable and unfair’ financial split — despite the Premier League agreeing to provide an extra £100million to the lower divisions. the top flight announced yesterday they had renewed their domestic broadcast contracts with Sky, Bt, Amazon and the BBC for a further three years to 2025. the private nature of the sale, instead of holding the normal open tender process, meant it required government approval. But the eFL believe the government should have driven a harder bargain and forced a rethink about how tV revenue is split within the football pyramid. the abolition of ‘outdated’ parachute payments and a 25 per cent cut of pooled tV rights are among the eFL’s requests. An eFL statement read: ‘While we recognise the attempts by the government to increase the level of solidarity provided to League One and two clubs, what is more urgently required is a fundamental reset of the game’s financial model. ‘this announcement appears to have been a missed opportunity for the government to obtain a commitment from the Premier League to address the financial imbalance that exists between the top division and the rest.’ the Premier League’s new three-year tV deal is the same value as the existing contract at £4.5billion but there are significant changes. In response to numerous complaints from managers, Bt Sport have agreed not to schedule matches featuring clubs who have had midweek european matches on Saturday lunchtimes — with those games set to kick off at 7.45pm from 2022-23. Meanwhile, Premier League chief executive richard Masters expressed confidence last night that capacity crowds would be back for next season. Fans will return to grounds next week for the first time since December, with a limit of 10,000, but clubs are planning to operate at full capacity when the 2021-22 season kicks off on August 14. ‘I feel really optimistic that we will be full,’ said Masters. ‘All the messages coming out of government are positive.’ LTHE

Champions League final between Chelsea and Manchester City on May 29 will be in Porto. each club will receive 6,000 tickets but fans fravelling from the UK would be forced to enter a ‘bubble’ on arrival, before being whisked away to the airport immediately when the game finishes.