Covid Funding: Premier League makes £25m available to League One and Two, and National League
- Published
Notts County beat Solihull Moors on Saturday in front of a National League record crowd of 12,843
The Premier League has made available a further £25m of Covid impact funding to clubs in League One and Two, as well as the National League.
League One and Two clubs will receive £20m for the remainder of this season, with the other £5m going to the National League over four years.
Half of the £20m will be paid this month and the rest in March.
It forms part of an additional £100m committed by the Premier League to provide security to the lower leagues.
Those funds come from an exclusion order agreement granted by the government following the decision to roll over the three-year renewal of the Premier League's UK live and non-live broadcast rights.
In December last year, the Premier League agreed a similar relief package with the EFL worth £250m. That deal made £50m available to League One and Two clubs in the form of grants and monitored grants, and opened up a £200m interest-free loan facility for Championship clubs.
"We're delighted to be able to provide additional support to clubs at a time when the whole of football is looking to return to normality," Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said.
National League clubs will be allocated £2m of the new funds this season.
The league's board have decided 50% will be given to clubs in the National League and the other half to National League North and South sides.
The remaining £3m will be distributed over the next three seasons.
The 2020-21 National League North and South campaigns were declared null and void in February as the effects of the pandemic saw clubs fail to fulfil fixtures and experience serious financial struggles as games were played behind closed doors.
The National League season continued despite seven of the 23 clubs voting against it.
Many had only been in a position to start last season after a £10m grant was secured from the government's £300m emergency funding package for sports across England.
Any further funding was only made available through loans, with grants in exceptional circumstances.
"We welcome this new funding which comes after the Premier League assisted with the provision of valuable financial support during the pandemic that was crucial to the livelihood of clubs," National League chairman Jack Pearce said.
"The impact of Covid-19 was particularly severe at our level of the game and this new commitment is a timely boost which will aid clubs in their recovery and enable them to plan for the future."
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