Premier League Lodges £1.8bn "New Deal for Football" Offer to the EFL — With Strings Attached

The Premier League has unanimously agreed and formally lodged a £1.8bn funding offer to the EFL that would effectively double solidarity payments to Championship, League One and League Two clubs over the next decade. The proposal, revealed by Daily Mail Sport and confirmed by multiple outlets this week, would hand the EFL around 17.5 per cent of the top flight's broadcast revenue — up from the roughly 11 per cent it receives today, though still short of the 25 per cent the EFL had previously sought.

A £300m climb from August — but a £27m gap remains

The £1.8bn package represents a significant escalation in a negotiation that has dragged on for years. As recently as August 2026 the Premier League was reported to be proposing £1.5bn, itself a huge increase on the £915m total package on the table in December 2023 before talks broke down. Sources now indicate the two sides remain roughly £27m apart on the headline figure, with the EFL believed to be holding out for more ahead of the publication of the State of the Game report, which could strengthen its hand if the review exposes weaknesses in the financial sustainability of lower-league clubs.

The offer has been with the EFL, which has consulted its clubs for around six weeks, and sources suggest a deal is close enough that it would not need the intervention of the Independent Football Regulator or its backstop powers. The regulator's imminent arrival, however, is widely understood to be reshaping the negotiating landscape in the EFL's favour.

What the Premier League wants in return

The uplift comes with strings attached. According to the Daily Mail Sport reveal, the conditions include:

• Scrapping the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final, condensing the tie into a single match
• Additional controls on player wage increases in the EFL
• Changes to youth academy development designed to reduce clubs' dependency on owner funding
• A £20m "lifeboat" fund for clubs that enter administration, designed to pay creditors and support the club while a new buyer is found

The EFL, per the same reporting, wants the deal to be reviewable after five years rather than locked in for the full term, and has decided to try to negotiate a higher figure before agreeing. Some Championship clubs are said to be unimpressed with how the negotiation has been handled, amid a belief that EFL chairman Rick Parry has taken matters into his own hands without sufficiently consulting clubs.

Why the timing matters

The deadline pressure is real. If the EFL chooses to wait for the State of the Game report — which is due on 12 October — the settlement is unlikely to be agreed before that date, pushing a final decision into the same window in which the regulator formally begins its work. A deal struck now, by contrast, would land on the EFL's own terms rather than under the regulator's direction, which is precisely the leverage question dividing the lower divisions.

For the Premier League, the calculus is equally stark: a voluntary settlement at 17.5 per cent of broadcast income closes off the possibility of the regulator imposing a richer formula later, and removes the threat of the backstop mechanism being tested for the first time. The £1.8bn on the table is the clearest signal yet that the top flight wants this deal done before anyone else decides it for them.

This report is based on the Daily Mail Sport reveal of the Premier League's "new deal for football" proposal, as carried by Insider Sport and other outlets on 19–21 September 2026. Neither the Premier League nor the EFL has yet published the offer in full, and no agreement had been announced at the time of writing. Byline: Ines Kovač, OneLightScore football business and governance correspondent.