Preston North End chairman Craig Hemmings has claimed parachute payments will be even larger next season, creating a bigger divide in the Championship.

The financial gap between those coming down from the Premier League to those in the second-tier is already colossal. Last season's relegated trio all finished in the top four this campaign, with only Ipswich Town's remarkable achievement preventing them all from going straight back up.

Blackburn Rovers' best effort at getting promoted has been a seventh-place finish in 2022/23. Competing financially is becoming a larger challenge every year with the gulf in finances widening.

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The English Football League has been in discussions with the Premier League for some time to try and negotiate a new deal for football which would share the wealth at the top of the game. That, as yet, has been unsuccessful.

Addressing supporters in his end-of-season review, Hemmings revealed that The Premier League have actually increased parachute payments for next season.

He wrote: "As has been widely reported, after several years of false promises, the Premier League clubs refused to enter into any negotiations with EFL clubs over a new deal for the football pyramid. 

"What isn’t widely reported is the fact the Premier League has increased, by several million, the amount the relegated clubs receive (via the parachute payments), thus giving them an even greater advantage over the rest of the Championship than they already have. 

"With the Premier League hugely increasing the parachute payments, we need you, our fans, more than ever to help us to compete."

Relegated Premier League clubs currently receive payments in three instalments. 55% of broadcasting revenue from the top flight in year one, 45% in year two and 30% in their final year.  

That roughly gives clubs a £130million head start on the teams around them.

EFL chief Rick Parry has long rallied against parachute payments and has called for new cost-control measures that don't distort the competition. 

Parachute payments also encourage those who don't receive them to financially gamble on promotion, spending beyond their means to compete.