# Premier League and EFL are $179M apart over five years on a funding deal By MarketScale Newsroom · Published 2026-10-07 · Sports & Entertainment on MarketScale Canonical: https://www.marketscale.com/industries/sports-entertainment/premier-league-and-efl-are-179m-apart-over-five-years-on-a-funding-deal > The Premier League raised its offer to $239M a year. The EFL wants $275M, and its chair says the new figure remains inadequate. ## Key points - Over five years the reported gap is $179 million, smaller than a single year's payment under the Premier League's $239 million-a-year offer. - An EFL yes on Friday would not finish the deal. The $239 million-a-year offer still needs its own vote of Premier League clubs. - Deal length looks like the easier term to move. The EFL wants five years, the Premier League first proposed ten, and it has signaled it will compromise. The Premier League has raised its offer to the rest of English professional soccer to about $239 million a year. The English Football League's board is set to meet again on Friday to decide whether to back the Premier League's latest proposal, according to Sky News. On Monday, the chairs and CEOs of the Premier League, the EFL and the Independent Football Regulator met to try to finish the deal by the end of the week. Mark Kleinman of Sky News broke the story of the talks, and Sports Business Journal reported them on October 6 with all figures in U.S. dollars. The deal would distribute some of the Premier League's wealth to the rest of the English professional game. The open question is narrow and close at hand. Can a gap that has already shrunk be closed before the clubs vote? For finance directors at EFL clubs, the answer sets how much shared money they can plan on and for how many seasons. ## A gap smaller than one payment Block Field By simple arithmetic, what remains between $239 million and $275 million is about $36 million a year. Over five years, the reported gap of $179 million is smaller than what the Premier League would pay in a single year under its current offer. The two sides' positions remain apart. Sources described the EFL's $275 million figure as a non-starter, and EFL Chair Rick Parry is said to believe $239 million is still not enough. A small gap set against a big total still has to be bridged by people who have each called the other's number unacceptable. ## Five years or ten The second dispute is about length. The EFL wants the agreement to last only five years. The Premier League's original proposal ran for ten. Sources also said the Premier League would be prepared to compromise on length, which suggests duration is the softer of the two terms. The EFL wants the deal to last only five years, while the Premier League's original proposal set out a 10-year agreement. A shorter term would bring the money back to the table sooner. A longer one would give clubs a fixed figure for a decade. For anyone whose budgets depend on lower-league club income, including sponsors and suppliers, the length could matter as much as the annual amount. ## Two votes before anything is signed Block Field The higher offer would require a further vote of Premier League clubs to approve it. On the EFL side, clubs hold a series of divisional meetings Thursday. The lower leagues' board then meets again Friday to decide whether to back the Premier League's latest proposal. ## Sources - [English soccer officials aiming to hash out funding ...](https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2026/10/06/english-soccer-officials-aiming-to-hash-out-funding-agreement-across-pro-game/) (Sports Business Journal) Tags: Premier League, English Football League, EFL, Independent Football Regulator, Rick Parry, solidarity payments, revenue distribution, soccer business, sports finance, league governance, club finance --- Source: MarketScale, https://www.marketscale.com/industries/sports-entertainment/premier-league-and-efl-are-179m-apart-over-five-years-on-a-funding-deal. Published for AI indexing and citation; cite the canonical URL. Site guide for agents: https://www.marketscale.com/llms.txt