Premiership-Football League gulf

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In English football, the Premiership-Football League gulf is a term used to describe a perceived increase in the difference between clubs from the FA Premier League and the Football League since the formation of the Premier League.

Since the FA Premier League began at the start of the 1992–93 season, its member teams have received larger amounts of money in TV rights than their Football League colleagues. Prior to the formation of the Premier League, television revenues from top flight matches were shared between the 92 League clubs. The break away of 20 clubs to form the Premier League resulted in top flight revenues being shared exclusively between Premier League clubs.[1]. As a result, financial disparity has been cited as a reason for newly promoted teams finding it increasingly hard to establish themselves in the Premiership. The Premiership relegation places have been filled by at least one newly promoted club in all but one of the 13 seasons since its introduction, and in the 1997–98 season all three clubs were relegated.

The Premier League distributes a small portion of its television revenue to clubs that are relegated from the league in the form of "parachute payments". Starting with the 2006-07 season, these payments are in the amount of £6.5 million over the club's first two seasons in lower leagues.[2] Though designed to help teams adjust to the loss of television revenues (the average Premier League team receives £28 million while the average Football League Championship club recevies £1 million[2]), critics maintain that the payments actually widen the gap between teams that have reached the Premiership and those that have not[3], leading to the common occurrence of teams returning soon after their relegation.

The payments have been also criticised as causing Premiership teams to play more cautiously—playing not to lose instead of playing to win—because the threat of relegation means the loss of payments from the television rights. In fact, as of December 2006, the goals-per-game average is only 2.14, the lowest it has ever been in Premiership history and lower than any other professional league in Europe. Steve Bruce, manager of Birmingham F.C., has stated, 'It's a results business... The Championship is very entertaining at the moment because about 12 clubs think they can win it. In the Premiership you've got 12 clubs shit-scared of relegation, and that's the difference.'[4]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Football goes to market. Retrieved on 2006-11-21.
  2. ^ a b Rich clubs forced to give up a sliver of the TV pie. Retrieved on 2006-11-21.
  3. ^ Why clubs may risk millions for riches at the end of the rainbow. Retrieved on 2006-08-13.
  4. ^ Wilson, Paul (3 December, 2006). Where have all the goals gone?. The Guardian. Retrieved on 2006-12-06.
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