The Football Governance Bill has received its first reading in the House of Commons, having passed through the House of Lords with its key provisions intact.
The Bill will introduce an Independent Football Regulator to oversee the licensing of clubs in the top five tiers of the men’s game, with three main objectives: protecting individual clubs’ financial sustainability; improving the financial resilience of the system as a whole (including through the distribution of revenues throughout the pyramid); and safeguarding the traditional features of English football that matter most to fans and communities.
Originally proposed by the Conservative government, the Bill didn’t go through before they lost power in 2024. A revised version of the Bill was then reintroduced by the new Labour government. Bates Wells had worked with Fair Game CIC to propose improvements to the Bill (discussed here), several of which made it into the revised legislation – the goal was to boost the regulator’s ability to create a fairer football landscape, while keeping its remit proportionate.
By the time it reached Parliament, however, the Conservatives – previously the Bill’s home support – had turned on the legislation, with Kemi Badenoch saying she was “instinctively opposed to new regulation when she believes government should be deregulating more”. Her views were echoed by the Premier League, which said that the Bill’s attempts to close the financial gap between the top tier and the rest risked having “a negative impact on competitiveness…and the aspiration that drives our global appeal and growth“. The Bill faced 375 amendments in the House of Lords, some of them reflecting those concerns.
Some feared that the government’s appetite to stand by the Bill might also be weakening in the context of its own pro-growth messaging, which has recently seen it warn that the UK regulatory landscape is too bureaucratic and “too often holds back growth and inhibits private sector investment” (discussed here).
But in the event, the Bill made it past the first part of its Parliamentary journey with no substantial amendments, and is expected to face less friction in the second half. Significantly, an amendment that proposed reclassifying the Bill as hybrid – which would have required shifting it onto a slower route through Parliament – was withdrawn.
The Bill accordingly remains on course to pass into law this Summer. Professional clubs will require a licence to operate, so clubs will want to step up their preparations before kick-off.
Benjamin Thomas and Helen Fry are Bates Wells’ specialists on the Bill. Ben is a specialist in sports sector work and Helen is a senior associate in our public and regulatory team. If you run a club that will be affected by the new regulatory regime and would like any guidance as to how the Bill might affect you, please get in touch with Ben ([email protected]) or Helen ([email protected]).