Football Association and Bet365

Chris Bryant Excerpts
Thursday 9th January 2020

(4 years, 10 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Nigel Adams Portrait Nigel Adams
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I could not agree more.

Chris Bryant Portrait Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)
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Can I pull the Minister up on the point that he just made, when he said that a large proportion of the money from broadcasting rights is going into grassroots football? If only! It is a tiny amount of money. In other countries in Europe, much more significant amounts of money go into paying for local coaches, local facilities and ensuring that there is home-grown talent. Should not we be ensuring—notwithstanding today’s urgent question—that far more of this money goes directly to the small local clubs that are sustained by families, with mums, dads, grandpas and grandmas turning up every weekend?

Nigel Adams Portrait Nigel Adams
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I totally agree with the hon. Gentleman’s latter point, but I was referring to the broadcasting rights and the amount of money secured under the FA cup broadcasting deal, not the premier league broadcasting deal, which is an enormous amount of money.