Premier League and EFL Enter Endgame Talks Over £180m-a-Year Funding Deal With Regulator at the Table
The Premier League, EFL and Independent Football Regulator met to thrash out a deal by the end of the week, with the top flight raising its offer to about £180m a year, parachute payments on the table and a backstop ruling looming.
Published 10 Oct 20264 min read
Premier League, EFL and Regulator Meet as £180m-a-Year Funding Deal Goes Down to the Wire
The chairs and chief executives of the Premier League, the English Football League and the Independent Football Regulator met on Monday in a bid to thrash out a funding settlement by the end of this week, according to Sky News, with the top flight understood to have raised its offer of additional annual solidarity payments from about £150m to about £180m a year. The proposed package, reported by Sky News’ Mark Kleinman and carried by Sports Business Journal, would also cut parachute payments to relegated clubs and ring-fence a pot of money for infrastructure investment across the EFL’s 72 members.
The talks mark the latest round in a redistribution argument that has dragged on, off and on, for roughly three years — and the first to take place with the regulator at the table. If the two leagues cannot agree a football-led solution, one or both would need to ask the IFR to trigger its backstop powers and impose a settlement, a route that could leave EFL clubs waiting through a further protracted period for money many say they are financially dependent upon.
What is on the table
- An increase in additional annual solidarity payments from the Premier League to the EFL, from an original proposal of about £150m to about £180m a year — an increase that would still require a further vote of Premier League clubs to approve it.
- A reduction in the parachute payments made to clubs relegated from the Premier League.
- A ring-fenced pot for infrastructure investment at the EFL’s 72 member clubs.
- A new “lifeboat fund” for lower-league clubs that find themselves in financial distress.
- The new funding would come on top of the money the Premier League already invests in the wider English game.
The sticking points
Two gaps remain. The EFL has demanded additional payments of £207m a year — a figure sources described to Sky News as “a non-starter” — and it wants any deal to run for only five years, while the Premier League’s original proposal envisaged a ten-year agreement. Sources indicated the top flight would be prepared to compromise on the length of the deal, though not on the headline number.
The timetable is now short. The EFL held a series of divisional meetings with its clubs on Thursday, and its board was set to meet again on Friday to decide whether to back the Premier League’s latest proposal. Even an EFL yes would not finish the deal: the increased offer still needs its own vote of Premier League clubs.
The Premier League remains committed to concluding a football-led solution as soon as possible so additional money can flow to EFL clubs this season.— Premier League statement, reported by Sky News, 6 October 2026
Why the regulator is watching
The negotiations are unfolding under the shadow of the Football Governance Act 2025, which placed 116 clubs across the top five men’s tiers under statutory regulation for the first time and handed the IFR powers over licensing, financial scrutiny and the removal of unsuitable owners. The regulator is also preparing to publish its first “State of Football” report, expected next week, which will set out the financial cliff-edges that still exist across a game generating unprecedented wealth at the top — a document Sky News reported will intensify the pressure on both sides to reach a deal.
For the EFL’s clubs, the numbers are not abstract. League officials have repeatedly argued that a fairer share of broadcast income underwrites the sustainability of the professional pyramid, while Premier League clubs must weigh the same payments against their own cost bases in a season in which the league’s collective finances have come under fresh scrutiny. A deal this week would send money flowing to EFL clubs this season; a failure would hand the decision to a regulator that has made clear it would rather not have to use it.
Reported by Ines Kovač for OneLightScore, drawing on reporting from Sky News (Mark Kleinman), Sports Business Journal and AllFootball. Figures are as reported by those outlets and remain subject to approval by both leagues’ clubs.