EPL Credits Help From Federal Government For Today's Return

The EPL returns to the pitch this afternoon, and CEO Richard Masters noted the league had “fantastic support” from the U.K. government for its return. He told CNBC the government was “very proactive in terms of wanting a league sport to get back up and running” after everything was shut down due to the pandemic. Masters: “We worked with them, worked with their medical advisors.” He added, “Hopefully the British public and around the world can look forward to a diet of football, but also some cricket and other sports as well.” Here are some more highlights from Masters’ comments on the EPL’s return:

• “We talked to our clubs and really put a skeletal plan together probably two months ago, and we’ve been building it step-by-step. The turning point was getting players back training. That feels to me like when we had full confidence we could do this.”
• “Starting the season is one thing. The real prize is completing the season. We’re confident we can do that.”
• “The Premier League won’t be back with a capital ‘B’ until we have our passionate fans back in the stadium.”
• “We’ve got 92 games left, and they’re all going to be on television. A third of them are going to be on a wide distribution, free-to-air basis. It’s going to be very interesting to see how many people are watching when those viewing figures come in. We’re very optimistic that lots of people will engage” (“Closing Bell,” CNBC, 6/16).