Tottenham and co defeat Man City in key Premier League vote

Tottenham Hotspur and the other clubs in the Premier League have successfully managed to push through new legislation on sponsorship deals, despite Manchester City challenging the rule change.

What is the disagreement about?

The main contention is Associated Party Transactions (APTs), which refers to clubs agreeing sponsorship and other deals with parties that they are associated with.

The Premier League rejected Man City’s huge new Etihad sponsorship deal as they deemed it to not be of fair market value, with the Premier League champions subsequently challenging this verdict.

City maintain that the proposed amendments by the Premier League regarding ATP’s are unlawful, with the issue sparking a civil war among the various clubs in the division – including Tottenham.

Tottenham and Premier League clubs confident of winning vote

The Times revealed this week that there was a belief that the Premier League had enough support to win the vote regarding sponsorship rules. 14 of the 20 clubs needed to vote in favour of the motion for the proposed rule amendments on ATPs to become law.

It was revealed that City were backed by some clubs, including Aston Villa, and are hoping to get the support of Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, Chelsea and Leicester City.

However, Wolves and Everton, who had previously voted against tougher APT rules, were supporting the Premier League. As a result, it thought that seven clubs were no longer vetoing the proposal, with a bulk of clubs, including Spurs, on the side of the Premier League.

It was reported this morning that the Premier League clubs have indeed voted to change the APT rules.

A Premier League statement said the rules changes are about (BBC): “integrating the assessment of shareholder loans” and “include the removal of some of the amendments made to APT rules earlier this year.”

“The purpose of the APT rules is to ensure clubs are not able to benefit from commercial deals or reductions in costs that are not at fair market value by virtue of relationships with associated parties.”

A watershed moment for the Premier League

This vote could have huge consequences as allowing ATPs to go on completely unabated provides a major loophole for clubs to get around the current financial restrictions.

That is why the likes of Spurs, who are very much operating within the financial guidelines, wanted the Premier League’s proposed restrictions on ATPs to come into effect.

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