The Premier League are weighing up a wage bill cap for ‘competitive balance’, reveals Crystal Palace chief Steve Parish – and says he backed keeping the Saturday 3pm blackout as it’s ‘culturally important for lower leagues’ 

• The Premier League is considering ways to maintain competitive balance 
•  Steve Parish also warned against a solution with ‘unintended consequences’
• Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport’s podcast ‘It’s All Kicking Off’ 

The Premier League is looking at a cap on a club’s wage bill in order to keep the top flight competitive, Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has said.

The league is looking at a variety of ways to maintain competitive balance, including anchoring – capping the richest club’s wage bills as a multiple of the television money earned by its bottom club.

‘As far as competitive balance (is concerned), people need to be bold,’ Parish said at the Leaders Week conference at Twickenham.

‘I think there is change afoot. UEFA’s squad-cost caps are one idea. Maybe something that is a bit more rigid than that, with a hard cap at the top, that doesn’t take turnover into account, where there are vagaries of how that turnover comes about.

‘There are really positive conversations going on about it. We also have to be very careful because there are also unintended consequences. Hopefully we will get somewhere that will be beneficial, not just to the clubs in the Premier League but to the whole pyramid and their ability to compete.

Steve Parish claimed that the Premier League are looking at ways to maintain competitive balance

One method thought to be under consideration is anchoring – capping the richest club’s wage bills as a multiple of the television money earned by its bottom club

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‘We are voting for our competitors to be able to do better and challenge us.’

Parish backed the league’s decision to maintain the Saturday 3pm blackout in its next set of domestic television rights.

The league issued an Invitation To Tender (ITT) on Wednesday, featuring an increase from 200 to around 270 matches but keeping the blackout intact.

‘I think they made a good decision on keeping the 3pm (matches) off television,’ he said.

‘I think it is very important for participation and very important for attendance in the lower leagues, and culturally very important.’

The Premier League also confirmed that all matches displaced to the Sunday 2pm slot due to clubs participating in the Europa League or the Europa Conference League on a Thursday night would now be televised.

‘I think it’s very frustrating for supporters when a game gets displaced, it’s a big game, and there is maybe a lesser game on television. And that big game isn’t on. So I think increasing the number of games is a positive. 

‘The packages have been constructed in a way that they should create good and healthy competition, which is what the consumers want.’

The Premier League has preserved the blackout after confirming its latest TV rights tender

The blackout prevents 3pm games on Saturday from being broadcast to a domestic audience

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