English Premier League Big Six Clubs Apologise With Goodwill Payment
The ‘big six’ teams from the English Premier League (EPL) have collectively agreed to contribute UK£22 million (AUD$40 million) towards English football as an apology for attempting to break away to the proposed European Super League.
The clubs will make a combined goodwill payment to support grassroots soccer and community programs but most interestingly, there will be heavy sanctions if the clubs try to breakaway again.
The EPL said in future, clubs will face a UK£25 million (AUD$45.7 million) fine as well as a 30-point league table deduction if they attempted to join another Super League competition.
The clubs in question are Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham, who all announced themselves as founding members of the Super League but quickly withdrew after fan protests and opposition from soccer leagues and the British government.
The six clubs in a joint statement expressed their apologies to the fans, other British clubs, the EPL, and the English Football Association (FA).
In other news, English Football League Championship winners, Norwich City, have terminated their shirt sponsorship deal with BK8 Sports after protests due to the betting firm’s sexually provocative marketing content.
The sponsorship deal was announced Monday by the club but was soon met by outrage from Norwich supporters when they viewed the Asian betting firm’s Instagram and YouTube platforms that featured sexually suggestive adult-themed content of women.
The club announced the mutual termination of the partnership with BK8 stating they got it wrong and apologised to any offence caused.
Norwich City chief operating officer, Ben Kensell, said: “We have worked hard to build trust and engagement through our countless initiatives with our supporters and partners.”
“We place huge value on our open and honest relationships with our community and supporters.
“On this occasion, we made an error of judgement. Our standards were not at the levels we demand of our football club.
“We remain highly committed to diversity and equality across our football club and its community.
“We want to continue to embed a highly inclusive culture across the club, together with an accessible and welcoming environment free of demeaning and discriminatory behaviours,” he said.
BK8 have since made a statement offering apologies as well as future changes to their marketing.
“Our primary mission is to provide a safe and regulated betting platform for sports fans,” BK8 said in a statement.
“It is therefore essential that we listen to the voices of the fans in the communities we serve and recognise when we are wrong.
“We apologise for the social media content published by affiliates of BK8 which has caused offense, and have taken immediate steps to change the way we market the brand.
“Now that the partnership has been mutually terminated, we intend to take action to show football fans that we learn from our mistakes and improve as a brand,” they said.
BK8 also confirmed it will commit a portion of the sponsorship funds towards relevant charities and associations in hopes to invest back into the fan communities.
