The Premier League CEO Richard Masters speaks on where he thinks English football could be in 10 years time in an interview with Sky Sports.
Richard Masters discussed the proposed Football Governance Bill to establish an independent football regulator to protect football clubs by “ensuring financial sustainability”.
Other topics include the Super League, money distribution, attendances, ticket prices, Club World Cup, schedule, revenue, PSR system, 3pm blackout, broadcasting, price cap and much more.
Listen to the full interview on the latest episode of “The Boardroom” below…
“Obviously, some things are going to change” ✍️
Premier League CEO Richard Masters discusses where he thinks English football could be in 10 years time on ‘The Boardroom’ ⚽pic.twitter.com/ECMboMxLuR
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) January 2, 2025
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT:
What a normal day/week looks like for you because you have the responsibility of 20 Premier League clubs that all want to perhaps go in a slightly different direction?
Richard: No two weeks’ the same, I’m in the office quite a lot of club contact, we have more than enough to be getting on with lots of meetings lots of decisions to be made obviously I go to matches and have a right amount of international travel, the Premier League is a global competition really with many important partners all around the world keeping that international fan base engaged I think helps the domestic competition and so it’s a blend of things really and it’s difficult to describe what a day-to-day thing feels like so any given week can be very different to another.
On the football governance bill and the independent regulator, his position as the boss of the Premier League with regards to what the government want to do, what some fans want to do, what some clubs want to do and a lot of people against the independent regulator coming in and this governance Bill
Richard: Well Premier League football clubs are already regulated we are the regulator of Premier League football clubs they’re also regulated to some extent by the Football Association and many of them are regulated through a licensing system and through financial Rules by UEFA so football clubs are already heavily regulated and that’s just really the start of the regulators to get involved in the football industry the question is whether we need a a new regulator an independent regulator backed by statute that’s going to look at um a number of important things like ownership, engagement, heritage, assets, breakaway leagues but also the critically important issue of financial sustainability and financial regulation generally so in the Premier League we have a financial system that’s built up over time with some very clear objectives and I include not just the PSR system in this but the way that revenue is distributed and costs are distributed the parachute system they’re all designed to create a fantastic football competition that preserves aspiration within it so if you’re a fan of a recently promoted club you know that your club has the parachute system to protect investment as you go forward you’ve got the ability to compete in the Premier League and over time rise up and challenge for European competition if you can stay there maybe one day challenge for the league and that’s what I think separates the Premier League from its other European competitors, is that we have that jeopardy we have that constant fizz of compelling entertainment no one quite knows what’s going to happen and who’s going to win, that is the unique selling point I think of of the Premier League that’s why people tune in from all around the world there are many different reasons but that I think is the one that perhaps separates us uh from others and if you have a third party coming in from the side and regulating a part of that system financially by being able to look at clubs, business plans and potentially constrain their ability to invest that worries us, you know, we have always been pro-investment within measured risks you know it the the Premier League is not a pension fund it is a place where capital is put at risk, there is no certainty of outcome, again one of the things that makes it interesting so we do worry that a new regulatory function might be risk averse and might inhibit club’s ability to invest and the ability to invest is key to competitive balance and that Jeopardy that I’m talking about and of course at the moment we have we have a situation where we have lots of international investors willing to take positions in Premier League clubs take over Premier League clubs invest in the future of Premier League clubs and we think it’s a good thing for the premier league and for the whole pyramid and we’re seeing that also in the EFL as well with the aspiration to get out of the EFL and get into the Premier League, there are a long list of investors coming in and the new regulator could change that reg that investment environment we don’t want that to happen, because we think we have a virtuous circle which really works, we don’t want that to change
Questioned why do you think the government have have put football under under that spotlight and and why do you think that has sort of become the case compared to lots of other businesses or industries
Richard: Well I think the the the sort of reasons that get are club failures and to some extent the European Super League but club failures mainly so we’ve had um I think there’ve been since the introduction of financial regulations in football um and I’m do not mean the Premier League I mean the EFL as well I think there have been six administrations, the last one I think was Derby in 2021, and that’s over 10 years ago so it’s, football is portrayed I think as a on the sort of financial precipice and I just don’t sort of accept that at all I think that football is extremely well funded the Premier League is in growth next year in 25/26 will be in growth, the Premier League has we consider our competitive set to be the big five European leagues of two thirds of the international media revenue from those five leagues we have a very very strong Global position now which I think sets the Premier League very well for the next four years um which is the um outer limit of our new broadcast agreements by the same token so the EFL they’ve done very well in the media markets they signed 1 billion pound series of broadcast agreements over the next five years so they’re in growth as well so I don’t accept that that football is on a financial precipice, any club failure creates extreme difficulty, but I think the football can deal with these issues but that’s the primary reason is that is that regulator is there to protect the sustainability of the pyramid as a whole an individual clubs and provided that regulation is aimed at where there are problems and not at the wider system, maybe it can be maybe it it can work but our concerns are real and they’re being raised as you know that in the Lords at the moment and the bill needs proper scrutiny to ensure that our global success is not impeded
Interviewer: When you look at what’s happening you look at the things that are being put forward with regards to the regulator and the governance bill can you see this coming into football or do you feel there is a point where maybe they will say okay we believe that you have the interest of the pyramid in the game at the forefront of your thinking therefore we’re going to step back and allow this to carry on as it is or do you think this is something that will happen whether you like it or not
Richard: Well it’s going through the Lords at the moment there is a there is a process for for the bill to become law so I don’t think it would be it would be wise for me to predict that the the bill isn’t going to to see its way through to fruition some point in the summer and the regulator will then be established the moment there’s a shadow regulator and obviously we’re interacting with that shadow reg at the moment trying to work out what life under this regulator will be like, how will it impact clubs on a day-to-day basis, what are the costs of it going to be, you know what’s what’s its personality going to be you know the chair and chief executive have not yet been appointed regulator it’s very difficult for us to tell what what the personality of regulator is going to be so we are concerned that it gets it right.
Interviewer: Just obviously another another point for why the regulator might be coming in you mentioned the super league and and obviously you speak about the EFL distribution with the Premier League and things like that could could you go into a bit more detail on I suppose your stance on on that money distribution and and how that works currently and and why you think it’s the correct way
Richard: just on distributions generally the Premier League obviously is at the top of the pyramid, as a rule of thumb the revenue the revenue that Premier League generates about 80% of it is distributed to clubs, the rest of the 20% there’s a um a chunk obviously to run the business cost of sales operating cost of the Premier League itself 16% and that’s 1.6 billion pounds over the current three year cycle gets distributed the rest of the game and outside of the Premier League, obviously some of that is parachute payments, significant investments in grassroots of the game via the Football Foundation Premier League Stadium fund the Premier League charitable fund, a lot of it goes into the FL in solidarity, so on an annual basis at the moment it’s about 135 million pound a year and that’s on top of all of their broadcasting Arrangements so um that deal the current deal was struck in 2019, so relatively recently has a long tale to it so if either party wanted to leave that agreement it would take three years to do so, so again there’s no financial cliff edge or no financial precipice that exists, of course there’s a question about whether that’s enough and the Premier League’s in grow should there be a different deal and as you know we’ve engaged a lot with the EFL about what new might look like and to some extent the bill itself or the prospect of a regulator has made it more difficult to to to strike in the arrangement and our clubs obviously now are are better equipped to view the future because they understand what the Premier League’s revenue is going to be between 25 and 28, they’ve got sight of the bill now they can look at it and we’re quite close to introducing a new Financial regulatory system, moving away from PSR profitability sustainability rules, and potentially adopting squad cost ratio model which is aligned with the UEFA system that is the plan but the clubs have only voted it through in shadow so we’re operating at the moment another vote would have to take place before it became lore if you like from next season onwards
Interviewer: One question I have is just around the around the Super League and how did that sort of work for you was it did you just see a press statement come out or did someone call you saying this has happened or obviously it was during quite a stressful time
Richard: Well I think yeah it was really as Covid was working its way out of national life and it’s not the European Super League as a concept haven’t been around, been around for decades of circling European football like a like a death star and then suddenly a sort of week in advance we heard that things were rumbling and moving but it was still a shock and everything else when we were told it was about to happen then it happened, I remember coming into the offices and talking to staff on the Monday morning after it all been announced on the Sunday and feeling that something had you know rip and the system had taken place um but by Tuesday night everyone had had exited and then we were dealing with the sort of the aftermath of it all and the mark that it left if you like, which I hope is nearly healed if you like and that we are we moving forward because the Premier League ultimately needs needs collective unity and alignment to continue to move forward and take advantage of the unbelievable opportunity we have as a league on the sort of global football landscape with an amazing opportunity in front of us and probably only people that can stop us being continuing to be successful are ourselves, so getting aligned and getting clear on what our priorities are is really important there is
Interviewer: So much play with running the Premier League isn’t there there’s you know the stuff that’s going on with the governance bill you’ve got all these clubs that want to make changes and do things you’ve got to make sure they’re sustainable and financially working in the right way you’re looking after the pyramid the EFL the community work you do how do you keep the Premier League as the best league in the world when you’ve got so much potential interference from outside
Richard: Yeah well I think you just have to remember what what it is all about and it is all about the football ultimately provided that we have got a compelling competition that excites people, we’re just under 99% sold out as a Premier League, that’s fantastic, and the fans play an incredible part in creating the atmosphere which again home and away support in the Premier League raucous atmosphere that’s one of the things which jumps off the screen in in in America and China and makes people want to watch it so we have to provide a compelling football competition first and foremost that’s about bringing the best players and coaches in from around the world and it goes back to our financial position and our and our commercial position and we’re in a very good place to continue to bring the best players and managers into the Premier League across all clubs, for all clubs to have competitive squads so on any given day they can beat anybody, so we have that competitive league and if you have that I think we’ll continue hopefully to be to be 99% sold out to be popular all around the world to continue to drive value for the shareholders who are making those investments and are doing it in an environment where they understand what those proportionate risks are, they understand there is a system, there is a limit to the amount of money that you can you can risk we have a permitted losses system at the moment um so it’s quite hard to to drive a Premier League club off a cliff, we’ve only had one Administration during our history which was which was Portsmouth which led to the introduction of of many of the financial rules and I believe they’ve had a positive impact not everyone agrees with me that the rules are the right ones at the moment they should be more, they should be liberated they should be tightened, there are a difference of opinions and my job is to align at least 14 clubs hopefully 20 on what the right answers to these questions are going forward
Interviewer: Just a question for me and obviously the European competitions have expanded now the Club World Cup is coming into play the World Cup is going to get bigger I there’s it’s almost a double folded question do you think there is now too much football and also how do you think I suppose you keep the Premier League’s priorities amongst all of these other competitions happening
Richard: Well as you know the Premier League is since 1994 when it went from 22 to 20 clubs has been the same size and shape as as the League Cup and the FA Cup and everything else it’s the Regional and Global competitions that are that are growing and they are moving into every possible available space within the global calendar, as you know we’ve also been very vocal on our criticism of that, and are overloading players generally on the number of matches they now have to play and the Premier League is a is a highly athletic endeavour, the intensity and pace of the game has increased over time and we’re asking players to play more matches in that environment, and I think we’re we are at a tipping point, what we want is to have a bigger say as leagues not just the Premier League this is this is the world leagues to have a bigger say in the global calendar going forward, and we’ve put a complaint in front of the European Union via the European leagues and FIFPro done the same so the leagues and the players unions are are not happy with the decisions that are being taken at at a global level and we’ve seen the Club World Cup coming and obviously that is going to have an impact on the Premier League if either Manchester City or Chelsea get to the final of those game of of that competition the Premier League starts four weeks later and all players are supposed to have three weeks off, it’s part of the contractual commitment, so how does that work with great difficulty I would say and we believe that if leagues and players unions were involved in the decision-making processes about how these competitions put together you’d have better outcomes uh that’s what we’re calling for
Interviewer: I guess one of the things about the the the FIFA Club World Cup as we’re on the theme is the financial involvement for these clubs as well so they say that Chelsea and Man city will get a minimum of 60 million pound and then if they go on to win the competition it could be worth over 120 million, that gives Man City and Chelsea a massive leg up when it comes to signing players having a bigger squad paying better wages, compared to even the likes of Arsenal or Manchester United who are not in that competition
Richard: Of course yeah and there is that aspect to it too no one knows quite how much the how much revenue this competition is going to generate and how it’s going to be distributed but it will have an impact clearly
Interviewer: Whilst we’re on the the the thoughts of I suppose Financial conversation how’s the rules changing the PSR rules changing and and how’s that going to look moving forward
Richard: So the PSR system which obviously was unknown to most fans I think until until we had to enforce the rules relatively recently is a permitted losses scheme, so clubs are able to invest or lose dependent where you look at it 105 million pounds over three years, that was broadly aligned to the UEFA breakeven test of their own their own system they’ve now changed to a squad cost ratio which is really you take revenue and you apply percentage of it can be invested in your on pitch expenditure so revenue plus the profits you generate from player trading can be invested back on the pitch and UEFA have it at 70%, the Premier League’s version of it if it gets voted through is quite is slightly different to UEFA’s, it’s an in-season test and it works on our seasonal Financial year, but it’s set at 85% and that allows clubs who aren’t in Europe to Aspire so that 70 to 85, 15% is there to uh to allow clubs to continue to aspire to come up the league and we think that’s the right place to put it at and we’ll see whether clubs vote it through during the course of the season
Interviewer: A question my dad had because I was speaking to him about it was what happens for like a team so let’s say we’ll use an as an example at the moment we’re obviously sitting 14th, 15th and obviously we budgeted at the start of the year that we’d be in and around those European places…
Richard: In the way that we’ve designed it is that is that is that you you essentially your historic revenue your previous season revenue is what you is what your cost is is based on so therefore where you finish isn’t necessarily an issue as it is under the PSRs at the moment if you budget to finish 10th and finish 17th then there’s quite a loss of revenue under the Merit table at the moment and that won’t be the case it be a better system under squad cost ratio
Interviewer: So it’s seen as the revenue of the year before…
Richard: Yes which you know it’s all it’s all these things are all choices whether you use currencies and revenue or historic revenue and that they’re all they’re all choices that we’ve debated with our financial controls group, we have clubs on it, so the policy that we are generating is all done with the input of clubs along the way but ultimately you end up in at a shareholders meeting ask asking for admission
Interviewer: Obviously a conversation that has come up a lot recently is this 3pm Blackout and is that something that that we’re looking at as a league and I know traditionally it was it was to to make sure that gates stayed strong and you’re saying 99% sold out even when games are on TV we’re seeing still stadiums sold out so what’s sort of the thought process, is that a conversation happening now
Richard: No is the honest truth I mean the we we’ve just committed to four year agreements with Sky and TNT starting next season really grateful for that continued investment uh we put more matches into the system as you know um but the the UEFA article 48 we still continue to be sporting of and and that’s sort of baked in really to our to the next four years so this sort of comes up every now and then at the moment, we’re really committed to the next four years as are the EFL and indeed the FA so I don’t see that that situation changing and even now always in December the matches you get a few empty seats because the weather gets really difficult, people are going to Christmas parties and they’re saving money for Christmas or whatever and it jars doesn’t it, so I we never take for granted 99% sold out, I’ve been around long enough to remember when we brought in the 30 pound price cap because we had a problem with the away support and it’s been a really successful I think piece of policy and that continues, we’ll reaffirm that at some point in the future we’re going to discuss it again with clubs I think next summer, so we never take for granted the attendance at at Premier League matches but just generally article 48 isn’t up for grabs isn’t under discussion really for until until 29 onwards and we won’t start thinking about that for a few years
Interviewer: One thing you mentioned there the price caps in place and we’ve seen a lot of campaigns from fan groups over the last few weeks and months really talking about football fans loyal football fans being priced out of the game being priced out supporting their clubs and football fans are so intelligent now because they know that clubs get so much money from broadcast revenue, they get all this commercial income so therefore they say why are we continuing to to pay more and more prices for tickets how important is it for you as the boss of the Premier League to ensure that the clubs are responsible and fair with their pricing to make sure that fans can still come and support?
Richard: I mean I think and we’ve always felt this that clubs are the people uh the institutions that decide on ticket pricing um obviously we have some regulations in place to ensure that there are concessions to ensure that clubs put their ticket pricing policy in advance of a season and we do discuss ticket pricing generally at shareholder meetings clubs must decide ultimately what the what the ticket pricing scheme should be um we obviously track it from the centre, the average ticket price if you blend it all through for a premier league adult ticket price is about £39, of course that doesn’t take into account all the different concessions and top prices and hospitality prices but your average general admission ticket is £39 which you think is very good value for 90 minutes of Premium football, so we understand the dilemma, we talked to fan groups over time, I’m involved in the structured dialogue conversations with the Football Supporters Association they make their views very clear to me and I pass it on to the clubs, but the clubs are are very much aware and Jack you’ll be you’ll be aware of those discussions that take place with fan groups, this is where we have to have an open dialogue with football supporters about uh about about all of these conjoined issues and how they impact on each other because every decision you take has a butterfly impact on something else, I don’t think it’s simple to say because the Premier League is in growth broadcasting that ticket prices should be frozen, that’s not an automatic situation it’s much more complex in that
Interviewer: Just a question for me whilst we’re on the topic of fans and things like that how do we sort of inspire that next generation of of fan base and what are the Premier League doing to to make sure that those younger fans are are being engaged and I always say football is an amazing thing where you’ve got you have to make sure that someone who’s 90 and someone who’s 5 years old are all engaged in the same product really
Richard: Well it’s an interesting challenge and obviously at the moment we think that the the sort of footballing public are massively engaged with the Premier League not just in this country but all around the world and that’s just you know going back to basics and talking about a fantastic football competition which is the the starting point for everything you know we work with our broadcasters to help put on the show and our domestic broadcaster particularly have done an amazing job of showcasing it they are also engaged in the the the topic of how to ensure a a younger generation continues to be engaged with so many different options in front of them so with with our broadcasting partners in the UK, part of their strategy has been to broaden the audience, to make it younger and more female and they’ve been very successful in all of that, s you know and the clubs and the Premier League also our broadcasters with a small B, we have an enormous amount digital content being created and going out there it’s all part of the as part of the soap opera if you like so we all have an obligation really to play our part to make sure that we’re engaging with my dad who’s 90and still follows it brilliant and and our kids you know and making sure that they get the same experience I think that football fans have it becomes part of their lives and you know you ask you know ask you who you are and maybe one of the first five things you will declare about yourself is which football team you support and that we want people to feel that that connectivity and that connection to the amazing community feeling you can get out of supporting your club
Interviewer: You talk about the soap opera and sometimes the Premier League does feel a little bit like that because there are so many column inches that generate off the field conversation we’ve seen it with Everton who have gone through a really challenging time we’ve seen it with various things at Manchester City and of course Nottingham Forest who are having an incredible campaign but they’ve fallen foul of PSR rules how difficult is it for you as someone that is meeting the owners meeting the chairman of these clubs and you have to impose the rules remind them of the rules but you know you’re always going to upset someone in that chain how difficult is that for you
Richard: Well I think that we’ve said this before about you know our job is actually to make clubs successful and part of that actually is enforcing the rules they all agree that that we we have to have rules they all sign up to the rule book and shake hands on it you know once a year at our at our AGM and our job is to enforce the rules un unfortunately or there’s no happy alternative to it, the alternative seems to be not to have a rule book at all and not enforce them uh and that is a far worst choice and not one we’ve ever contemplated so it does bring difficulties but those difficulties have to be faced up to
Interviewer: One last question for me if you didn’t have any votes or you didn’t need any votes what would be the three things that you would change
Richard: There have been a lot of attempts to regulate the agent environment, FIFA have had to go and we let them try and do it and they face legal challenge and I’m just talking about proportionate sensible regulation of reg I think that would be a really important step for efficiency really and the other one is is the post Brexit immigration system, the GBE system, the governing body exemption system which again is a part of part of things that fans don’t really see and it’s the rules within which players can come in and enter this country and play professional football clubs and I think we could loosen that a little bit and the reason I think that is because our youth development system is creating so many strong England players and obviously from the FA perspective what they want is a strong England team and we support that, we want a brilliant Premier League we want a brilliant England team and I think we’re we’re delivering that which means that maybe we could loosen up the GBE system those are the two little magic ones I might be able to wave
Interviewer: Richard we’re getting to the end of the boardroom we always finish with the quickfire so this is just quick questions quick answers say the first thing that comes to your mind and then we will get a real insight because you don’t have time to think about what you’re going to say so you just have to be on the money with this what’s the best thing about football
Richard: I just just going back to it I mean I’m still a fan you know I’m still a supporter that’s the best thing
Interviewer: Who do you support?
Richard: I don’t want to say because I you know, people know who I support ultimately but I just don’t sort of go around talking about it
Interviewer: What’s the best experience you’ve ever had at a football game what’s the one match that you really remember and felt I love this, I love the game
Richard: Well then I’ll be declaring probably who I supported I mean you know the, I go to matches, you know most weekends and I still love doing it I still love watching football matches, despite being so exposed to it all I still get a kick out of going to wherever
Interviewer: Where will football be in 10 years time?
Richard: If you think where football was 10 years ago it’s a sort of version of where we are today but I hope the Premier League will still be in its in its current position which is really strong, globally, I think obviously some things are going to change, maybe in the broadcast market, but I hope that we retain and maintain some of the great things about English football, the history and traditions of the game the way that, the way the whole thing fits together with its sort of soap opera and bit of chaos throwing on the side but it maintains its current shape and I’m very confident it will be that in 10 years time the English football industry will be continue to be the envy of the world
Interviewer: Finally Richard um obviously we’re embarking upon a journey to learn about the business side of football, Jack has been around the game since the very first day of his life he knows nothing other than football, what would be the one piece of advice that you’d give as the boss of the Premier League to someone that potentially in maybe 10, 15, 20 years time could be the owner of a club could be the chairman of a club and be a part of the Premier League making those big decisions
Richard: Well I always encourage I mean you this is true so Jack will knows an incredible amount about football perhaps more than he knows really, he’s in a fantastic position but if he ever does get to that place where he’s the owner of or running a football club is to be present I always encourage owners in particular to to get involved in the Premier League and to turn up, we have a mix of executives and chairman and known as around our table and it works but the more the more interest we have from from owners the better, so that would be the one piece of advice when the moment comes Jack, when you when you own a Premier League football club in the future is to be very present and involved in everything that’s going on, because it’s a very rich and and interesting environment
