The English Premier League is exploring a much-needed feature to its calendar

The English Premier League is in the midst of sorting out their new domestic television contracts with various content providers, with strong input from The FA, and the one thing that’s been whispered in hush tones at various times in the past is now suddenly starting to become loud shouts from the main players involved: a winter break.

The break is not something that will happen, if at all, until at least the 2019-2020 season, when the new television contracts are expected to be in place. But, as the BBC reports, talks have been ongoing for several months and, in regard to the winter break portion of the discussions, have been constructive.

The key thing to note here is that talks have centered around a break in the month of January, unlike winter breaks in the other four major leagues in Europe that begin in mid-to-late December. This means that the vaunted, infamous festive fixture schedule in the league will remained intact and unchanged. On the other hand, though, the timing of this planned break will allow clubs to focus more energy and effort on assessing the state of the their rosters and executing in the January transfer window to repair cracks within the club - all without matches to contend against.

At the moment there doesn’t appear to be any sort of rough timeline as to when the contracts will be announced, and as with all rumors this is still far from a certainty. But here’s to hoping this much-needed feature is included in this TV deal and others in the future.