Sports Ticker #158 - PFA commences dispute with EFL and F1's updated calendar

In a fortnight that saw Great Britain’s Amy Hunt become the first athlete to win four gold medals at a single European Athletics Championship, the return of the Premier League, and Nottingham Forest FC owner Evangelos Marinakis lodge a defamation claim against Crystal Palace FC, we bring you news of the Professional Footballers’ Association’s dispute with the EFL over cost controls and Formula 1’s updated calendar.

As always, if there are any issues on which you’d like more information (or if you have any questions or feedback), please do let us know or get in touch with your usual contact at RPC.

Wage-ing War: the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) takes the EFL to the High Court over League One cost controls
The PFA has issued High Court proceedings against the EFL over approved changes to League One’s Squad Cost Management Protocol, which takes effect ahead of the upcoming season. Permitted wage spend drops from 60% to 50% of turnover, managers’ pay is captured for the first time, and no more than half of any owner equity injection can go on salaries. The PFA’s objection is procedural rather than substantive. It says the rules were adopted without the agreement required through the Professional Football Negotiating and Consultative Committee, on which the EFL, Premier League, FA and PFA all sit. The EFL disagrees, characterising the reforms as amendments to an existing framework rather than a change to players’ terms and conditions. The union has form here: an arbitration panel struck down the EFL’s proposed 2021 salary cap as unenforceable and in breach of the constitution of the Professional Football Negotiating and Consultative Committee. With average League One losses now at £7.3m, EFL chief executive Trevor Birch calls litigation “the wrong fight at the wrong time”.

Course Diversion: F1’s Bahrain round relocated as the season’s finale hangs in the balance
Formula 1 has confirmed that the Bahrain Grand Prix, postponed in April because of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, will be staged at Malaysia’s Sepang circuit from 2 to 4 October. The official name of the event will be: Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, with the Bahrain title being retained as most of the financial costs will be covered by the Gulf state. It is Malaysia’s first race since 2017, and follows the loss of the Saudi Arabian round, which cuts the season from 24 races to 23. The final two rounds in Qatar and Abu Dhabi remain in doubt, with F1 president Stefano Domenicali setting a mid-September deadline and confirming that the season will otherwise finish in Europe. 

MVP-PFL merger signals push for fairer fighter pay and global reach
The merger between YouTube personality Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) and the Professional Fighters League (PFL) marks a significant shift in the combat sports landscape. Paul said the partnership aims to “give fighters fair pay and a bigger, modernised stage to become global superstars”. The combined organisation will operate under the MVP brand and bring together more than 300 fighters across boxing and mixed martial arts (MMA). MVP’s first MMA event in May set a US viewing record, with Netflix reporting a “minute audience” of 12.4 million as Ronda Rousey beat Gina Carano with the 15-second win peaking at 17 million viewers globally. The merger follows MVP’s recent partnership with Matchroom Boxing, aimed at expanding opportunities for female fighters across both promotional rosters. PFL, which has sought to innovate with its league-based format, gains access to MVP’s marketing reach.

Out of the Running: the Jockey Club quits the Racecourse Association (RCA)
The Jockey Club, which owns 15 British racecourses including Aintree, Cheltenham, Epsom and Newmarket, will follow Ascot out of the RCA at the end of 2026. The RCA is the trade body representing all but one of Britain’s 59 tracks. Its governance review, published two days prior to the announcement, proposed replacing the one-track, one-vote structure with four voting groups. Jockey Club chief executive, Jim Mullen, said the review addressed the RCA’s internal arrangements but not its role as the political representative of British racecourses, including its 50% shareholding in the British Horseracing Authority (BHA). The Jockey Club is in the early stages of setting up a rival body with Ascot. The move also triggers a constitutional crisis of sorts. Under the existing regulations, the RCA nominates two BHA board members on the basis that it is the body most representative of racecourse owners, a claim now open to question without its largest members.

Net Gains: SailGP’s Impact League rewards the Black Foils’ anti-trawling campaign
New Zealand’s Black Foils have taken the Better Planet award in SailGP’s Impact League, the championship’s parallel table ranks teams on environmental and social performance rather than race results. Every SailGP team has an ocean conservation partner; Live Ocean was founded by the Black Foils’ co-chief executives, Blair Tuke and Peter Burling. The award recognised Live Ocean’s backing of Swim4TheOcean, in which ultramarathon swimmer Jono Ridler covered 1,367km down the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island before delivering a petition with 73,647 signatures to Parliament calling for an end to bottom trawling (a destructive fishing method where heavy, weighted nets are dragged across the ocean floor). Regulators have been slower to move. New Zealand, the only country still bottom trawling South Pacific seamounts, has since renewed a vessel permit, while the UK government proposed banning the practice across 41 Marine Protected Areas in June 2025 but rejected an outright ban that September. For now, the campaign’s gains remain on the leaderboard rather than the seabed.

Extra time...

…and finally, the Women's Super League returns on 4 September 2026, bringing with it a refreshed broadcasting schedule, which includes the revival of Sunday evening kick-offs. Sky Sports, which holds broadcast rights to 163 of WSL's 182 matches, retains its 12.45pm Saturday and 12.00pm Sunday slots, but will now also show 7.00pm Friday and 6.00pm Sunday kick-offs. The BBC will exclusively air matches in slots on Saturdays (12.30pm) and Sundays (2.30pm). The new season also sees the introduction of the Subway Players Cup, which replaces the Subway Women’s League Cup as the new cup competition. WSL Football has stated that the name and format changes have been made to put players’ welfare at the core of the competition. The new tournament will adopt a Swiss-style league structure designed to increase playing opportunities for players not involved in European competitions. Subway has become the title partner of the Players Cup in a multi-year deal, which follows its previous seasons supporting the Women's League Cup.