A rollover of the Premier League’s existing domestic television-rights deal could be confirmed as early as Thursday.
The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that a three-year rollover of the current £5-billion deal with Sky Sports, BT Sport and Amazon had been approved by the Premier League’s clubs from 2022 to 2025.
The government has been consulted over the deal because of the private nature of the sale, and the Financial Times reports approval was granted on the condition that an extra £100m a season be paid in solidarity to the lower leagues.
The Premier League has declined to comment, but the PA news agency understands confirmation of the deal could potentially be as early as Thursday.
It would be a major boost to top-flight clubs who have been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters estimated in March that the clubs would have lost nearly £2bn collectively by the end of this season as a consequence of the pandemic.
The first five of the seven packages in the current three-year deal were announced in February 2018, with the final two confirmed in June of that year.
The broadcasters shared 200 matches between them when stadiums were open as usual, with Sky broadcasting 128, BT 52 and Amazon 20.