Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Government is taking measures to ensure the financial flow in football from the £3.2bn annual broadcast deal helps football foundations and grassroots football.

The Government recognises the importance of financial flow for the wider health of the game across the whole of the football pyramid - including the vital work that club foundations do for young people and communities. The Independent Football Regulator (IFR) released its long-awaited State of the Game report last week, and we echo their calls for a new financial distributions deal to be agreed between the Premier League and lower leagues. If the football industry cannot reach a deal independently, the legislative provisions underpinning the IFR grant it targeted backstop powers to enforce a revenue redistribution deal.