Sunderland AFC news: EFL boss drops big hint on the likely future financial rule change for Championship clubs

The Government published a white paper on Thursday that could eventually lead to the introduction of an independent regulator to oversee the governing of the game. That could be significant for the EFL as the regulator would have backstop powers to intervene in discussions about the distribution of the game's vast revenue.

The EFL is currently calling for an increase in payments from the Premier League down the pyramid, hoping to reduce the financial gap between the top of the second tier and the bottom of the top tier.

Most Championship clubs currently run at a significant loss and there is a bid to try and drive sustainability - as part of which the EFL would like to bring its top division in line with Leagues One and Two, where salary spending is currently capped at a percentage of turnover.

With UEFA set to go down a similar road in the coming years, Parry said earlier this week that he believes a more unified system is likely to be introduced at some stage in the English game.

As it stands, Financial Fair Play rules in the Championship prevent clubs from posting losses in excess of £13 million-per-year over a period of three years.Parry oversaw the introduction of hard salary caps in League One and Two during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they were dropped following a legal challenge from the PFA. Parry believes the organisation are more supportive of a turnover-based cap.

"I think what we’ll see is a more unified system from top to bottom, including the Premier League," Parry said.

“One of the issues over the last few years is that we’ve been obliged to adopt the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules in the Championship and looking at the economics of the Championship it’s quite a quaint name because clubs in the Championship are neither profitable or sustainable by any definition.

“I think we would have much preferred to have something similar to the SCMP (Salary Cost Management Protocol) regulations, which do have a control on salary costs and, at the end of the day, salary cost is the only cost you really need to control. That’s where the money goes out of the door.

“I think we’ll see similar controls from the Premier League right down to the National League in time. It doesn’t mean they will be the same percentage in each division because circumstances differ but I think if we have a single framework that makes an awful lot more sense going forwards.”

Parry also confirmed that the EFL are in talks to secure a more lucrative TV deal, with their current deal with Sky Sports set to expire at the end of the next season. Streaming could well be at the heart of those talks, with the iFollow service proving to be a major success for a lot of clubs in recent years.