Page 11 - Issue 13 Goole vs thackley.cdr

AFC U19s

Grass-roots Football

The government has been urged to pressurise the Premier League to “dig deep” for
grass-roots football funding after opening talks on a new nancial commitment that will
start next year.

The collapse of the proposed £600 million Wembley sale has placed renewed scrutiny on
the Premier League’s current allocation for grass-roots projects, which stands at £100m
per year and represents 3.6 per cent of its overall £8.3bn broadcast deal.

There is a petition calling on the gure to be upped to ve per cent, while The Telegraph’s
‘Save Our Game’ grass-roots manifesto is advocating an independent commission to
study funding options and decide whether the Premier League should pay more.
The wider context is how the Football Task Force of 1999 recommended that “a minimum
of ve per cent of income” would be available “primarily for investment in grass roots”.
Members of that Task Force have since told Telegraph Sport that they regarded this as a
commitment in return for them supporting the Premier League’s lucrative collective selling
model.

Culture secretary Jeremy Wright was asked on Thursday in the House of Commons
about grass-roots funding and expects the Premier League’s payments to remain at a
minimum of £100m per year.

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