Lord Sugar says TV companies could dictate how money is shared without agreement

Television companies could ultimately be the ones to dictate how money is shared between the Premier League and the rest of the pyramid if no agreement is reached, Lord Sugar has said.

The former Tottenham chairman believes top-flight clubs would object to any effort by football’s independent regulator to use its proposed ‘backstop’ powers to settle the row, but that clubs would be forced to listen should broadcasters decide the money needed to be split differently.

“The TV companies, when they make their offer to the Premier League, they could insist that part of their money has to be distributed outside the Premier League,” Lord Sugar told the PA news agency.

“You’ve got to look where the money comes from, and it’s up to the conscience of the paymasters really, ie the TV companies, to see whether they can lay down the rules.

“At the end of the day that’s where the big money comes from. (The regulator) taking money out of the purse of Premier League clubs I think would be objected to.”

Concerns have been expressed, in particular by EFL chairman Rick Parry, over  what he describes as a “cliff edge” in revenues between his competition and the Premier League, and the impact of parachute payments to relegated clubs.

The Premier League already shares £1.6billion of the revenue it earns with the wider football pyramid over three years. Out of that, £650million is paid out as parachute payments over the period, with £430m paid as wider solidarity to EFL clubs.

The league’s new domestic television deal, starting next season and running for four years, will be worth £6.7bn. The EFL’s current deal with Sky Sports, which started this season, is worth £935m over four years.

For the second season running, all three teams promoted to the top flight last summer look like making an instant return to the Championship, while Burnley and Sheffield United – two of the sides relegated in 2023-24 – are in contention to bounce straight back up.

Nottingham Forest, Brentford and Brighton are notable examples of clubs promoted without parachute payments who have established themselves, but Parry described the payments as “the cuckoo in the Championship nest” earlier this week, and hopes their impact will be considered as part of the regulator’s promised ‘State of the Game’ review.

Sugar was credited with helping forge the Premier League’s financial success during a House of Lords debate about the regulator on Tuesday evening.

Conservative peer Lord Fuller said Sugar’s decision in the 1990s to move players from the profit and loss statement to the balance sheet.

“At that moment, in the blink of an eye, English football changed,” he said.

“What our noble friend did was turn a series of cottage industries—clubs that were grounded in local communities—into investable propositions.

“Whether he appreciated it at the time or not, it was that stroke of the pen that put British football clubs on the path to greatness. People say that Sky made the difference, but the truth is that it was our noble friend who made football so investible in the first place.”