Bristol Rovers to take share of £20m funding promised by Premier League

Premier League put aside £20m to be shared across League One and Two clubs
Bristol Rovers will receive support from the Premier League after a difficult few years. (Photo by Alex Burstow/Getty Images)Bristol Rovers will receive support from the Premier League after a difficult few years. (Photo by Alex Burstow/Getty Images)
Bristol Rovers will receive support from the Premier League after a difficult few years. (Photo by Alex Burstow/Getty Images)

Bristol Rovers and its fellow League Two clubs are to receive more financial aid from the Premier League.

England’s top-flight agreed a new lucrative TV rights deal yesterday with NBC Sports which will see them net up to £1.5 billion over six seasons.

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More than £20m will go to teams in League One and Two which will be split across 48 clubs, which if evenly split would pocket a club just over £400,000.

The injection of money is aimed to help clubs continue with the COVID pandemic after playing the entirety of the 2020/21 season behind closed doors.

Last season, the EPL gave third and fourth tier clubs £50m in the form of grants, so the additional £20m takes their recent goodwill up to £70m.

The Premier League already provides money to the Football League in the form of parachute payments, but this is an additional £100m of investment over the next four years.

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Richard Masters, Premier League Chief Executive, said: "We are delighted to be able to provide additional support to EFL and National League clubs at a time when the whole of football is looking to return to normality.

"This builds on our long-standing support for football at all levels and is part of additional funding we will provide to the wider pyramid and communities following the Government’s approval to renew our UK broadcast arrangements.

"We look forward to working with our football partners to provide more important financial assistance in areas where it is truly needed, which will continue to make a difference to those clubs impacted significantly by COVID-19."

Sport minister Nigel Huddleston said: "We took action earlier this year to secure the financial position of the Premier League by freezing the broadcasting rights to help weather the storm caused by the pandemic.

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"It’s great to see the Premier League delivering on its £100m commitment to support the wider football family with an initial £25m down payment for this season for clubs in League One and Two and the National League.

Despite the money promised by the Premier League, it has been reported by the DailyMail that the EFL are prepared to allow for an independent regulator of football.

The EFL, Premier League and FA have usually worked together to bat away the need for bodies outside of football to govern football, but now there is a change.

They say that chairman Rick Parry has written to former Sports Minister Tracey Crouch, who is overseeing a Government review into football, about the need for the riches of the Premier League to trickle down the lower leagues, as well as tougher regulation.

More regulation may be needed to preserve the status of its member clubs, given the likes of Bury who were expelled from the Football League, whilst this season Derby County went into administration.

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