Masters eyes full house for 2021-22

PREMIER League chief executive Richard Masters remains optimistic full crowds will return to stadiums for the start of next season.

Clubs will welcome back up to 10,000 fans for the final two rounds of matches next week, with hopes high that capacity crowds will be allowed once coronavirus restrictions are removed this summer.

Masters said: ‘I feel really optimistic we will have full crowds on August 14 (opening day). All the mood music coming out of government is positive, with the usual caveats. We know what we have to do and have to put in place (for that to happen) and with our track record and that of the clubs, we will do it.’

Masters (pictured) spoke as the top flight announced a renewal of its £4.5billion domestic television deal with Sky Sports, BT Sport, Amazon Prime and the BBC for three years to 2025.

He believes the recent demise of the European Super League, which six Premier League sides initially joined, can bring clubs together, adding: ‘Some good can come out of this and the collective can end up being stronger. ‘We need to put the Super League behind us before we can move forward and that process is ongoing.’

And Masters revealed there could still be punishments for the clubs who tried to join the breakaway. ‘We need to do it effectively and appropriately,’ he said.

THE government has missed an opportunity to close the gap between the Premier League and the rest of football in giving its approval in principle to a new top-flight television deal, the EFL has said.

The top flight announced a renewed deal with Sky Sports, BT Sport, Amazon Prime and the BBC yesterday which will run until 2025, a move its chief executive Richard Masters described as the best outcome ‘for the Premier League and the whole game’. However, the EFL could raise a challenge to the deal after the top flight promised the football pyramid £100million over the next four years.

‘What is urgently required is a fundamental reset of the game’s financial model in terms of fairer distribution of monies at all levels and sensible, realistic cost control measures to ensure clubs will live within their means,’ the EFL said in a statement.