By Tom Bergin
LONDON (Reuters) - Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani has proposed the creation of a new second tier in English football to boost revenues for teams outside the Premier League.
Radrizzani told a conference in London that the existing TV rights revenue sharing mechanism for the Championship, the current second tier in English football, did not provide enough money to sustain clubs aspiring to break into the top flight.
"It is really not sustainable to stay in the Championship... The small money they generate from TV rights, because the way they split (it) with 72 clubs, maybe needs to be reconsidered," he told the Leaders Sport Business Summit.
"Consider, another way, to create probably a Premier League 2 or something else that can be sustainable even for who is not promoted," he added.
In 2017, the English Football League, which oversees the Championship signed a domestic TV rights deal worth 600 million pounds ($792 million) which is shared among all of the EFL’s 72 member clubs.
Radrizzani said he still aspired to break into the Premier League with Leeds. He said he had received takeover approaches from potential bidders, but that he saw the opportunity to grow the club's value further.
“I have been approached by many parties in the last few months. I see already the value is probably more than double what I invested,” he said.
(Reporting by Tom Bergin; Editing by Toby Davis)