Covid-19: time for a financial reset?
Parachute payments have come into sharp focus again during the covid-19 pandemic. EFL Chief Executive, Rick Parry, referred to them as “evil” at a parliamentary committee hearing and has called for them to be scrapped as part of a radical overhaul of club finances to provide financial balance in the Championship (J. Wilson, 2020). Academic research argues a similar point in relation to sporting balance (see Wilson et al., 2018). The authors found that clubs in receipt of parachute payments are twice as likely to get promoted to the EPL and, on average, gain five points more on the pitch than those clubs that do not have parachute payments. They conclude that parachute payments are one of the factors that have led to a decline in competitive balance in the EFL Championship.
However, a spokesperson from the EPL defended the parachute payments as a mechanism of confidence for newly promoted clubs to invest in their playing squad to remain competitive in the top division. It has been further argued by the EPL that there is no evidence that parachute payments distort competitive balance in the Championship as they support other clubs of the EFL with solidarity payments (The Guardian, 2020), something at odds with the academic evidence (Plumley et al., 2018; Wilson et al., 2018). Herein lies a wider governance challenge for English football and the power play between the EPL and the EFL.
The EFL has attempted to support its clubs during this pandemic, committing a further £50 m in solidarity payments to all clubs in the system to run daily operations (English Football League, 2020d). However, there have been calls for the EPL to also help by sharing their revenue with clubs lower down the pyramid to ensure their survival (R. Wilson, 2020). This relates to the concept of co-opetition (e.g. Nalebuff & Brandenburger, 1997). Professional football clubs act as economic partners to deliver the product to its audience (see Bond et al., 2019). Member clubs need to recognise the value created collectively or risk failure. In short, the clubs need each other to survive both on and off the pitch.
As part of a financial reset in football, parachute payments could be used to aid “co-opetition” and competition. The money ringfenced for just three clubs every season (£46.75 m per club in the first year) could be redistributed equally to every club in the EFL (of which there are 71) to prop up the short-term cash flow necessary for the survival of these clubs in the coming months. In any given season, based on current data, that would equate around £1.98 m per club. The EPL, of course, will argue this is not their problem, which in a governance sense is true, yet they clearly have the power and the cash (current cash reserves stood at approximately £1.6bn in the latest accounts) to do more should they wish.
The worry for clubs remains games without fans. In this scenario, clubs (especially those in the EFL) are likely to face a significant drop in revenues. By way of an example, outlines the most recent revenue figures for Championship clubs and examines the proportion of money earned through matchday revenues based on current league position (as at 1st July 2020).
Table 3. Revenue and matchday income in the English Football League Championship
Pos. | Club | Revenue (£m) | Matchday % of Rev. | Adjusted Revenue (£m) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Leeds United | 48,920 | 25.8 | 36,299 |
2 | West Bromwich Albion | 70,823 | 10.3 | 63,528 |
3 | Brentford | 15,250 | 22.3 | 11,849 |
4 | Nottingham Forest | 25,344 | 30 | 17,741 |
5 | Fulham | 137,748 | 7.8 | 127,004 |
6 | Cardiff City | 125,216 | 6.3 | 117,327 |
7 | Preston North End | 13,808 | 25.8 | 10,246 |
8 | Derby County* | 29,616 | 31.3 | 20,346 |
9 | Blackburn Rovers | 16,674 | 22.4 | 12,939 |
10 | Swansea City | 69,419 | 9.6 | 62,755 |
11 | Millwall | 18,336 | 30.8 | 12,689 |
12 | Bristol City | 30,251 | 19.8 | 24,261 |
13 | Sheffield Wednesday** | 25,234 | 71.9 | 7,091 |
14 | Queens Park Rangers | 34,219 | 15.6 | 28,881 |
15 | Reading | 21,053 | 22.5 | 16,316 |
16 | Birmingham City | 23,007 | 21.8 | 17,991 |
17 | Wigan Athletic | 11,536 | 20.7 | 9,148 |
18 | Charlton Athletic | 7,307 | 52.7 | 3,456 |
19 | Middlesbrough | 55,643 | 10.9 | 49,578 |
20 | Stoke City | 70,620 | 9.1 | 64,194 |
21 | Hull City | 11,155 | 12.8 | 9,727 |
22 | Huddersfield Town | 119,321 | 4.2 | 114,310 |
23 | Luton Town | N/A | N/A | N/A0 |
24 | Barnsley | 7,782 | 39.9 | 4,677 |
NB All data is 2018/19 expect *Derby County (2017/18). **Sheffield Wednesday is also 2017/18 and club does not break down matchday and television revenue as individual items in accounts. No data available for Luton Town.
Here, we can note two key points. Firstly, the influence of parachute payment on the revenue profile of clubs. The clubs with low percentages of matchday revenue are the ones also in receipt of parachute payments from . Second, in the adjusted revenue column (based on 2018/19 data) we can see that 16/23 clubs would have a projected revenue for 2019/20 that is lower than a first-year parachute payment. At a time when revenue will be even harder to come following Covid-19, the financial playing field will be even more unstable due to parachute payments. There may still yet be further implications linked to television money with multiple international broadcasters having already deferred payments to the EPL (The Guardian, 2020a). This, in turn, would have a knock-on effect on the EFL.
The financial reset must benefit all clubs and seek balance, not just the books, but the sporting playing field, too. Strong evidence exists suggesting parachute payments are no longer fit for purpose and a sensible starting point for future discussion would be to consider the redistribution of them throughout the football pyramid. Canadian medical sociologist Arthur Frank stated that new evidence does not necessarily help us make better, more ethical decisions for our communities (Frank, 2000). But the time to engage with the evidence and for collective action, not self-interest, is now more important than ever. Some of the authors from this commentary have made practical suggestions to support the system, abolishing parachute payments and implementing salary cap regulations perhaps being the most prominent (Wilson et al., 2018). It’s time the policymakers reacted to such evidence.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23750472.2020.1792745
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