The U.K. will introduce legislation to set up an independent soccer regulator to re-distribute revenues between the top-tier Premier League and the lower English Football League, as the government intervenes to try to safeguard the financial sustainability of smaller clubs.
The Football Governance Bill will be proposed in the House of Commons on Tuesday, the government said in a statement. Bloomberg reported last week that U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak signed-off on introducing the bill after the Premier League failed to agree on a deal to share revenues with smaller clubs.
The regulator will have backstop powers to impose a new arrangement on financial distributions between the Premier League and the English Football League if they fail to reach a settlement. It will also be able to fine teams up to 10% of their turnover for noncompliance.