Campaign Pack: Fairer Funding for Football Clubs

Football clubs have a heritage in our towns, cities and counties that can stretch back over 100 years. They are community and civic institutions.

However, due to the challenges of Covid and the Cost of Living Crisis, many face very uncertain futures.

This is not helped by a funding structure that is stacked against smaller teams who run their finances ethically and responsibly. For instance of the £3.2 billion English football receive from TV rights 88% goes to premier league clubs. The average National League team gets 58p!

The Fair Game Index, developed by the Fair Game organisation, would reward financially responsible clubs and distribute more revenue down the football pyramid to smaller clubs.

ALDC has worked with Fair Game to put together a campaign pack for you to calculate how much extra your local team would receive if the Fair Game Index were implemented – and some resources to help you call for this change in your area.

Please note not all teams will receive more funding under this formula. Premier League sides are omitted from the index and some teams in the Championship (for instance those receiving parachute payments following relegation) would see funding fall. But the vast majority of teams from the Championship through to the National League North / South would receive millions extra each year under these fairer proposals. Some by as much as £15-£20 million!

Your local club can put this extra revenue into improving facilities, community projects and various other projects to bring benefits to the local area. Please use the resources below to:

1. Check how much your local team will receive under the proposals
2. Move a Council Motion supporting the implementation of a Fair Game Index
3. Send a Press Release to your local paper
4. Include an article in your next focus leaflet
5. Let ALDC know that your motion has passed!

You can localise your materials using the following resources from Fair Game:

• Fair Game Index (find out how much more your team will receive)
• TV revenue distribution by league

ALDC Campaign Resources

• Council Motion
• Drop In Focus Article – Affinity – PDF
• Template Press Release