Thread by @uglygame

Watching the Premier League dragging its heels over supporting the rest of the pyramid, and one owner actually denying any obligation to help support other clubs, made me think of a really interesting report I read a while back on the Premier League and its impact on the game.
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It highlighted the social importance of football and how all elements of the pyramid contribute to the Premier League's continuing financial growth.
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It also diagrammed how solidarity payments to smaller clubs have been part of the Premier League's 'cycle of grow'.
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Finally, it talks about the importance of the Premier League's commitment to football at all levels and its role in the "interconnected league system."
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So imagine my surprise at who paid for and commissioned this report. It was the Premier League's own "Economic and social impact report." This one was written by EY and published in 2019, and the PL boasts about its finding on its website.
assets.ey.com/content/dam/ey…
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I wonder what can have changed between then and now that would make the Premier League suddenly forget its deep commitment to the rest of English football. If I didn't know better, I'd think they were shameless crooks, trading off the pyramid when it was convenient to them.
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PS: The Premier League has never cared about the rest of the pyramid. All its interactions are on a voluntary basis, with the solidarity payments presented as a donation, rather than recompense for actual value generation. In this way, the PL behaves like a philanthropist.
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It's conspicuous giving functions to forestall criticism, blunt calls for proper regulation, gives control over the recipient, preserves the existing power relationship and costs less than a proper fiscal contribution.
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This is why, in the long term, they need to be replaced by a proper contribution overseen by a regulator, but also why, right now, the Premier League can't be allowed to dodge its responsibilities. They made this mess; they need to help clean it up.
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