What next for the Football League?

ITV Digital switches off its pay-TV channels and axes at least 1,300 jobs, while the industry regulator seeks a new digital broadcaster.

What can be done to prevent a financial crisis in English football?

Hundreds of thousands of ITV Digital subscribers have woken up to a seriously reduced service as the broadcaster's administrators took the service's pay-TV channels off air at 0700 UK time

Plans to sell the company off as a going concern look to have failed, and the company faces imminent collapse.

While the League has pledged to open a legal battle in an attempt to retrieve the cash from ITV Digital's owners, media firms Granada and Carlton, there are fears some clubs could go under before any case was settled.

What can be done to prevent smaller clubs from going out of business?

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This debate is now closed. Read a selection of your e-mails below.

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I'd love to see major wage cuts and I'd love even more for all these TV pay-per-view rights to be scrapped and footie to be put on terrestrial TV like back in the old days.
Mark, UK

Now that ITV Digital will be losing the lower league coverage, are the BBC going to take it over from them?

Believe it or not there are quite a lot of people out here who enjoy watching Nationwide League football and before ITV Digital came along, it felt as if the other major sports broadcasters (BBC and Sky) only ever concentrated on the Premiership, Division One and the Scots Premier. What is going to happen?
Ian Sumner, Plymouth, UK

The reason why many clubs will not pay a modest wage to a player is because there will always be other clubs around who want that player and have the money to pay them a big wage. So in order for a club to do well, they will have to pay big wages in order to keep hold of their best players.
Edward, England

The government should not bail out clubs that are going under because that would be throwing good money after bad

Phil Huish, Norwich, England

One of the few Canadian journalists who writes exclusively on soccer suggested introducing performance-based pay, rather than bringing back salary caps of yesteryear. Whatever option is chosen to stop the spiralling wages, hopefully the league's numerous teams can remain afloat, as they serve as a vital development stage for England's youth.
Devon Rowcliffe, Vancouver, Canada

The Football league clubs have gotten themselves into a mess and there is no one magical cure for what has happened. Clubs will have to really look at where the money comes from and goes to.

Clubs will have to make ends meet assuming that there is no TV money and if they get some they should then use it to pay off the debts that they have. I don't believe that there are too many clubs in the league and it would be a shame if the league lost any.

The government should not bail out clubs that are going under because that would be throwing good money after bad but they should give lottery grants to towns and cities that lose their football clubs to help set up new and financially viable clubs.
Phil Huish, Norwich, England

Let's face it, British (and I include Scottish) football is bloated. No other country in the world has so many professional clubs. Why do we need so many? France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Holland etc, all have many fewer clubs. It's this old fashioned nonsense that all local clubs should be saved that creates all the hysteria now.

Chris R, UK

The game, in terms of development of young players, needs the smaller clubs

Simon Jarvis, England

Monkeytastic ITV Digital has sold the Nationwide down the river with its naive economic planning, so the only viable option is to pursue the money owed. Most people would do the same in the league's position.

Maybe the newly refinanced PFA, the FA, Uefa and the Premier League could help to finance the Football League through this process, hopefully using the threat of never giving ITV football rights again (which would be to football's advantage, as ITV's coverage is crass to say the least) as a lever.

I agree that the league has gone on a spree with the money offered, but that is not a reason to allow ITV Digital to renege on a contract that was unwisely tendered without realising the true value in broadcasting league games.
Chris Rose, Oxford

What a sad shame this all is. It was inevitable that the ridiculous about of money piled into football would dry up somewhere and as always, the small clubs may suffer. A disgrace. As an Arsenal fan, the bigger clubs and the FA must do something, as the game, in terms of development of young players, needs the smaller clubs. It is imperative that they survive.
Simon Jarvis, England

The Nationwide League needs streamlining

Hugh Oxburgh, UK

Players' agents are siphoning vast sums of money out of the game for doing next to nothing. They should be regulated/culled. Clubs throw money away in a way that 'proper' businesses could never get away with. Ridiculously large playing squads, endless experts (masseurs, dieticians, liaison officers) etc etc. Time for a serious reality check.

Football has got itself out of proportion, ably assisted by the media. Going to non-league games is a refreshing change (I speak as a league club supporter). More people need to sample it - it reminds you of how the professional game used to be before it became an over-bloated, badly run industry.
Nick Brodrick, UK

The Nationwide League needs streamlining, and though this is a rather drastic way of bringing it about, so be it. Furthermore, Granada and Carlton are responsible for ITV Digital's losses and must pay up - even if it means them going under as well. If you sign a contract - you must deliver, no excuses.
Hugh Oxburgh, United Kingdom

For any football team to be dependant on TV for its survival is a ludicrous example of the commercial tail wagging the sporting dog! It looks like the bubble of corporate greed and vast overspending that has engulfed football might be about to burst. Good job too.

Football is our national sport so go and support your local team

Joe Tomasik, England

Let the bosses concentrate on producing good football, instead of sitting in ivory towers, playing the businessman, and fooling around with unjustifiably vast sums of cash which very few understand how to handle properly.
Chris B, England

Football players earn what they deserve. If a small club pays high wages for players not worth what they cost, the club is the one in the wrong. The clubs should budget themselves and bargain hunt. For example, Walsall FC - small club but financially secure. Not the best team in the world but at least they're not in debt. Football is our national sport so go and support your local team.
Joe Tomasik, England

This is only the tip of the iceberg and unless EVERY major club in the world gets together and agrees to stop paying footballers huge sums of money, then within two years at the most football will self-destruct.

These people need to realise that being paid £100,000+ per week is obscene. Of course, because the superstar players earn this the money has to come from somewhere - TV revenue, merchandise, gate receipts etc.

Footballers should be paid a vastly reduced sum of money, and if this is done, then clubs can reduce their overheads, lower ticket prices to encourage more people into the grounds on Saturdays and still make a profit.

I anticipate that there will be fewer clubs in the next couple of years

Roger, UK

As a global example, let's take the Argentine economy - assume this is one of the football leagues - now if the situation in Argentina was to be applied to football you can imagine what will happen - BOOM!! And another one bites the dust...
Dave B, UK

It is always a question of supply and demand. ITV Digital apparently grossly overestimated the demand from the viewing public, and there is too much supply in that there are so many football clubs.

The end result almost certainly will be more clubs on a part-time basis, akin to the French leagues, for cost savings have to be made.

Plus, I anticipate that there will be fewer clubs in the next couple of years. That is a shame, but it is the economics of supply and demand overcoming emotion, and there is precious little emotion left in some towns and cities with the low attendances for their home clubs.
Roger, UK

The cost of running a football team has been rising for many years. Clubs throughout Europe have spent money that they have not got. I have to agree with Jeremy Stockley's comments, however, clubs could use the salary capping scheme (which is unfair). Since the Bosman ruling, soccer has been in trouble and clubs' expenditure too high.

The expectations for the digital revolution were set too high

Ron, England

Is the need for success too great - the more successful the team, the more money they make, yet for the teams in the lower divisions (and some in the upper) to reach that standard they feel that they have to spend a vast amount of money.

Players such as Beckham, Figo, Ronaldo get paid millions to play, they don't ask for the money, the clubs feel that they are worth that much, if the clubs cannot afford to pay, look for someone else.

The globalisation or, some say, 'Americanisation' of sport is damaging. Though the clubs need to invest to bring us the 'entertainment factor' and keep the audience, for without the fans, there would be no sport. Will the circle ever end?
Wayne Spring, UK

The expectations for the digital revolution were set too high. Mobile operators paid too much for licences and many TV companies have overpaid for sports events and in particular football. With Kirch going down in Germany and now ITV digital here, it looks like the reality check is setting in.

But football leagues and clubs were happy to take the money while it was there, and have put too much of it into transfer fees and wages. That process will now have to start unwinding, but it will take time as current deals and contracts remain in place.

Surely the Premiership clubs could find the £180m for now, to bail the Nationwide out

Paul Ladlow, England

Longer term, though, I see this as better for the game. The amount of money, combined with Uefa's competition rules, has been polarising leagues round Europe so that only a handful of teams can afford the top stars and the same old teams then win all the time.

I don't think we'll ever go back to the sort of open competitions that we had even 20 years ago, but some reversal of the current trend would be welcome, even if it hurts in the short term.
Ron, England

Surely the Premiership clubs could find the £180m for now, to bail the Nationwide out. They would all get money back when Carlton / Granada have to cough up - even if it's two years down the line.

This is the least the 'big' clubs could do to support their gravy train. Murdoch could even throw the cash in out of own pocket - he's done well enough out of our national sport over the years.
Paul Ladlow, England

Teams should be forced to only include in-house revenue, like Gate receipts, merchandise sales, etc, into their budgets. This way any money owed to them from TV will be seen as extra income which can be used in the following seasons. Sensible monetary targets are the key
Steve, Wales

The Nationwide League is just not an attractive product for ITVD viewers,

Dave C, England

Back in the 1980's snooker became the sport to watch... big money, TV rights etc. But the bubble burst because we were saturated with snooker. The same has happened with football. Let's face it the audience for Wigan V Tranmere (and the like) is limited. Most fans will not pay big bucks to watch it.

ITV scored a big own goal in over estimating the potential of football viewing. I'm even bored with the Champion's League... as many of my friends are... too much too often has numbed the viewing public. Cut back and give us real quality games only, like it was in the beginning of live soccer.
Jez, UK

Football is too greedy. Perhaps if the broadcast rights for each game were tendered for, on a profit sharing basis, the FA would be a little more careful with who they choose to sell to, rather than just taking from the highest bidder.
Ben Chapman, England

How can David Burns say in one breath that the clubs are still seeking the full amount owed to them and in the next that they are not being intransigent? Talk of legal action is all very well, but ITVD will not be in breach of its contract for another few months yet, so what happens between now and then?

It seems clear from viewing figures that the Nationwide League is just not an attractive product for ITVD viewers, and it amazes me that so many clubs are so dependent on TV money just to survive. A reality check is long overdue.
Dave C, England

I think players' wages are a red herring. The real problem is that the nature of the football "business" has changed fundamentally. In a game where revenues are primarily derived from gate receipts there will always be pressure for more clubs playing more matches as this is the only way revenues can grow.

Like it or not, British football is going the same way as American sports. The only way this will be avoided is if the fans stop paying to see Manchester United or Arsenal on TV and instead go to local matches again and I can't see it happening myself.
Steve Harrison, UK

The only way forward is to reduce the wages

Jeremy Stockley, Milan, Italy

Everyone is talking about clubs going to the wall, but no-one seems to mention that the players' contracts can be renegotiated at a more acceptable level. If it's a case of that or closing clubs down, then they will be left with little choice - for a pleasant change!
Gary Broughton, United Kingdom

To protect the future of football do away with the large wages paid to footballers and make the game affordable to the majority of supporters. The clubs can still reap benefits from sales of kit, etc as they will still have the same potential to win matches. The game could be televised again on terrestrial TV as not everyone-believe it or not- has Sky or digital.
Sam, N. Ireland

Morally, players should take a wage cut. Realistically, the wages are going to carry on rising.
Dom, UK

Football has reached its peak and the only way forward is to reduce the wages and reduce the money spent in the game. This is a not just a problem in the Nationwide leagues but in Europe generally outside the top league.
Jeremy Stockley, Milan, Italy