Andy Burnham has been urged to help fight back against a "fundamentally broken" sports ownership model with a new organisation to hand power back to supporters.
The Co-operative Party, Labour's sister party, is calling for a new body, Supporters Direct 2.0, to back supporter and community ownership across sport. In a new report, the party says this would help clubs across all sports with legal, governance and development support, reducing the power of private finance.
FIFA World Cup backlash
The call comes amid a row over FIFA proposals to sell a stake in the World Cup. The governing body had launched a consultation over setting up a separate $20bn (£14.9bn) company to run its competitions, only to U-turn after a furious backlash.
The report brands English football a "global commercial success story", but argues it has created an imbalance in which "supporters provide the loyalty, culture and community identity which give clubs their value", while ownership and decision-making remains concentrated in the hands of a "small number of private interests". It notes that most Premier League clubs are privately owned by international owners, such as hedge funds and private equity firms.
Rugby and cricket struggles
There have also been a series of issues in Rugby Union. London Irish fell into administration in 2023, following Worcester and Wasps folding. At the time, RFU chairman Tom Ilube blamed "unsustainable business models", adding that all three "have had fragile business models for many years".
In Rugby league, six teams have faced financial issues this year, with Keighley, Salford Red Devils, Featherstone Rovers, Halifax Panthers and North Wales Crusaders all going bust. In cricket, Yorkshire's chief executive Sanjay Patel is trying to end 163 years of being a members-run club, claiming failing to do so could see them miss out on test matches.
Call for supporter ownership
General Secretary of the Co-operative Party Joe Fortune said: "The World Cup fiasco of the past week is an extreme version of what already exists: private ownership across sport which comes at the expense of fans."
"We want to see a shift in power to the people who are at the heart of sport. A new Supporters Direct would allow supporters and communities to take control of the clubs they love."
Burnham, the first Labour and Co-operative Prime Minister in history, was previously chairman of Supporters Direct, an organisation set up to increase supporter voice and ownership in football. Speaking in the 2000s on the issue, he said: "I have always believed that football clubs belong more to their supporters than their shareholders. Some people have bits of paper to say they own a clubs' assets – stadium, training ground, brand – but the heart and soul of every club is the property of its fans."
