The Premier League had a new redistribution deal rejected by the English Football League (EFL) shortly before the bill that ushered in a regulator was passed.
The offer, delivered with the support of the Premier League CEO Richard Masters, was made in April and did not meet the EFL’s threshold for its clubs to receive 25 per cent of the top flight’s television rights deals.
West Ham United vice chairman Karren Brady, a regulator-sceptic who has suggested the new body could create a “closed-shop” of clubs at the top of the Premier League, revealed in a largely missed speech at the House of Lords on July 15 that a deal had been knocked back by the EFL.
Brady warned the “future success” of the Premier League “is not inevitable” and the competition was under threat from FIFA and UEFA expanding their tournaments and business models.
“I can report to the House that the Premier League has very recently made a credible and generous proposal to the EFL, but this has been rejected by the EFL board,” Brady added.
The Premier League believes a deal can still be reached with the EFL without the intervention of the regulator, which will be legally established and have its powers switched on by November, as revealed by The Athletic earlier this week, though it will take more time for the body to be fully operational.
The terms of the current deal between the Premier League and the EFL are ongoing rather than being positioned on a cliff edge and this means there is no deadline to focus on as far as any of the authorities potentially involved in any discussions are concerned.
The Premier League is wary of giving too much of its rights away because of fears of how it might dilute the division’s competitiveness and, as a consequence, impact upon the amount of money it can commit to the lower leagues.
(Photo: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
Aug 14, 2025
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