Premier League sets out ‘concern’ over delay to return of fans
The Premier League has urged the government not to delay plans for the safe return of supporters to stadiums, warning football stands to lose £100million a month while matches are played behind closed doors.
The government is reviewing plans to allow venues to welcome spectators back on a socially-distanced basis from October 1 following a spike in coronavirus cases nationwide.
It has also capped pilot events already pencilled in at a capacity of 1,000, regardless of the size of the venue.
Further to the PM’s announcement we are reviewing the list of proposed sports pilots ahead of 1 Oct, in light of the increased number of cases. Details of changes will be announced shortly.
— Oliver Dowden (@OliverDowden) September 9, 2020
The league has now issued a statement urging the government not to leave sport behind.
“The Premier League has written to government today to express its concern at the decisions taken to restrict, and potentially delay, the planned programme for the return of fans to football stadiums,” the statement read.
“With test events now capped at 1,000 supporters, we believe they will not provide any opportunity to properly test and evaluate measures designed to maximise fan safety.
“Therefore, Premier League clubs will defer holding test events until a sufficient number of fans are allowed back to enable thorough trials to take place. At 1,000 supporters, not only would there be little to learn from a test event, but each match would be heavily loss-making.”
