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Premier League face £340 refund even if season resumew

Premier League clubs have been told they could have to repay an estimated £340m to domestic and international broadcasters - even if the season resumes behind closed doors.

Club officials met on Monday to continue talks on "Project Restart". Premier League bosses said their objections to neutral stadiums had been heard and that they would ask authorities to scrap the idea.

But a "curtailment" of the season was discussed for the first time.

The refund is anticipated as matches are not taking place as expected - both because they will be played without fans and at different times to originally scheduled.

Premier League clubs are due to earn a total of £9.2bn from broadcasters for the 2019-22 cycle.

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters had previously predicted a loss of "at least £1bn" if the Premier League failed to complete the 2019-20 season.

"We were able to update our clubs today on our situation with broadcasters, which is obviously confidential," Masters said on Monday.

"Whatever happens, there's going to be significant loss of revenue for clubs. That is inevitable.

"We were able to paint a picture today about what would happen in various scenarios, playing out the season and not playing out the season, to allow them to have a picture of that as we stand in the early part of May.

"But in terms of putting an estimate on it, I don't want to do that today."

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