‘Proceeds go back to clubs’ insists National League

The National League say any proceeds generated from their showpiece Promotion Final are redistributed to their member clubs.

A crowd of more than 20,000 will be at the London Stadium this afternoon as Solihull Moors take on Grimsby Town for a place in the EFL.

It’s the second consecutive season the final has been held away from Wembley and the location has been criticised by some because of the northern make-up of the six clubs in the play-offs.

The search for a suitable venue that could host the game began as early as October. It’s understood the league contacted every League club in England and Wales as part of the process.

But with the Premier League and EFL season set to start earlier than usual because of the World Cup, there are a high number of pitch renovations already taking place, while some also have pre-Covid commitments to fulfil.

In a statement, the National League also pointed out proceeds go back to all clubs – and losses would have come out of the overall league pot.

A league statement read: “We don’t always get everything right, but we make every decision in the best interest of our clubs and the competition and we hope that fans will understand the challenge of balancing, securing a showpiece venue and the consequent costs involved with doing that. While we were able to keep the base price tickets lower than last season and that of Under 16s, we do acknowledge that there is a premium on the higher ticket prices and that the lower priced tickets sold out quickly.

“By way of background it was in the spirit of creating a showpiece occasion, befitting a Promotion Final, that we undertook a search for a venue, that began back in October, and the challenge we faced was finding a suitable stadium that wasn’t undergoing a pitch renovation as soon as the current football season had ended, more complicated this year than usual as there will be an earlier start to next season because of the timing of the World Cup.

“The London Stadium has shown this season in particular what a special atmosphere it can create for big games.

West Ham’s Europa League exploits are a strong reference point to this. It is a stadium with world class facilities, and we believe it’ll stage a brilliant final.

“Our main goal at The National League is to administrate and deliver income to our member clubs and any proceeds generated from the final and all other commercial activity will go to our clubs. To be clear, The National League will not be taking any profits from Sunday’s final – 100% of the proceeds will go back to our member clubs.

“Overall, behind the scenes we are working really hard to generate increasing incomes for our clubs, with the help of fantastic commercial partners like Vanarama and BT Sport.

“On that note we have had incredible support from Vanarama who have been actively looking at ways of directly supporting fans in the cost of the final, and The National Lottery who are working with community groups to ensure families and deserving individuals who otherwise would have struggled can get there on the day – with much of the transport costs being covered for this initiative. If the final is anything like as exciting as the semi-finals and indeed last year’s final, then it should prove to be another memorable occasion.

“We will always listen to clubs and fans to help inform any decisions for future occasions and we always seek to act in the best interests of all parties.

Going forward, we want to continue the dialogue with our member clubs and fans to ensure they’re being heard.”