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.
- You can find the campaign pack here
A template Council Motion is below that can be localised to you area using data for your local football team. You can calculate how much extra the Fair Game Index will give your team each year using the spreadsheet linked below. You can also use the data provided to show much little a team in your clubs division receives from every £1000 of English football’s TV revenue.
The Full Council Motion is below. Please let ALDC know if you move this on your council by emailing charles.quinn@aldc.org.
Council believes that football, the national game in the UK, is currently in crisis.
COVID-19 devastated the revenue of many lower-league clubs, and the cost-of-living crisis could be the knock-out blow for dozens of clubs.
Council notes the vastly unfair way in which income is shared across the football pyramid. For instance of the £3.2 billion English Football receives from TV revenue 88% goes to Premier League teams. Championship teams get just £32.85 from every £1000 generated.
Frequently bad management has gone unnoticed or ignored and clubs are run unsustainably, putting at risk all the history, heritage, and economic benefit they bring to an area – often in pursuit of short-term gain.
Council believes that football clubs are not ordinary businesses; they are historic sporting institutions that are both a civic and community asset, and a source of pride and unity, in their hometown or city.
Council therefore supports Fair Game, a national campaign that seeks reform of the way football is managed and run, specifically its call for:
- A truly independent regulator for the sport free of vested interests.
- A refocus on ‘values’ rather than profit.
- Football clubs to be recognised as key parts of local communities.
- The establishment of a Fair Game Index, which will reallocate the payments made to clubs to reward those which are run well, respect equality standards and properly engage with their fans and their community.
- The regulator to ensure fans are given the final say on any proposed change to a club’s ‘crown jewels’, including the club’s name, nickname, colours, badge and the geographical location from where the club plays.
- Council also notes that the Government has published a White Paper developed from a Government-commissioned fan-led review into football governance led by former Sports Minister Tracey Crouch MP, and that a vast majority of its findings mirror Fair Game’s aspirations.
Council notes that if the Fair Game Index was applied **LOCAL TEAM NAME** would receive an extra **£XXX** million of income each year. This could be invested to improve facilities and into community projects.
Council therefore resolves to:
- Declare its support for Fair Game, and call on other councils to join us in our support.
- Ask the Council’s representatives to encourage other like-minded councils to support Fair Game
- Ask the Chief Executive to write to the Minister for Sport, our local Members of Parliament, and the Chair of the Local Government Association Culture, Tourism and Sport Board, to lobby for the following to be included in the new remit of the Independent Regulator:
- Football’s financial flow (particularly over: proportion of broadcast revenues given by the Premier League, the abolition of parachute payments, and the allocation of funds from the Premier League);
- Owners’ and Directors’ Test to include an ‘ethics’ dimension, particularly around human rights;
- Implementation of a Fair Game Index to accurately measure club’s progress;
- To include National League North and South clubs under their control;
- To have stronger powers to implement and enforce governance; and
- Measurement of equality standards and environmental standards.
- Take an item to a future meeting of Council’s Civic Committee to discuss the importance role **LOCAL TEAM NAME** plays in the culture and heritage of **AREA NAME**; and to explore ways in which we can work together to support **TEAM NAME** and their work in the local community.