I don't think this proposal is going to go through. It's been too widely criticised already and is too obviously an overt power grab by the six richest clubs in the country. But something like this will go through eventually. Quite simply, the clubs in our divisions need the money, and are in a much weaker bargaining position than the Premier League. For all the assertions, not incorrect, that Manchester United's relationship with Morecambe is different to, say, Sainsbury's with the local independent offie, and that there is a degree of interdependence, it is obvious that Morecambe stand to lose far, far more by no longer existing than Manchester United do from not having as comprehensive a footballing pyramid below them. The longer this goes on, the more power the Manchester Uniteds of this world have, and the more likely the Morecambes will be to give in and accept any terms offered to them.
Of course, it would be lovely if the Premier League as a whole recognised a moral and civic duty to football as a whole and bailed out the EFL out of nothing more than the goodness of its heart, but that is simply not reality. Exceedingly wealthy they may be, but 250m is still a hell of a lot of money, and money they can use as leverage to extract better terms for themselves in a negotiation. It's harsh, it's cold and corporate, it's the complete opposite of what is so great about football, but fundamentally, it would be pretty commercially nonsensical of them to just give the EFL that money.
(Incidentally, I'm not convinced it is the government's responsibility to bail out the EFL, either - much as I love football, I do have sympathy for the observation that, if you are bailing out football clubs, do you also need to bail out rugby clubs, cricket clubs, badminton clubs, etc.? And why only sports? Why not also theatres, nightclubs, other recreational industries and institutions? If anything, football clubs should probably be lowest on that list, as they do have sources of income at the moment - sponsorships, iFollow - where other industries don't.)
So, while the terms of this deal are obviously very bad, and would represent a cataclysmic shift in what English football is, I wonder if they might be the best terms the EFL, as a whole, are going to get. There aren't B Teams; 25% of future TV deals sounds fairly generous; the leagues more-or-less survive. Future offers of deals, when they come, will not have any incentive to be any more generous. It's not ideal, it's not what any of us would want to see happening to English football, but it's reality. The big players hold all the cards - and if we, and many other fans of many other clubs, want to see our club in the flesh again in the future, in any capacity, we're probably just going to have to play along.
