In a move that could be far-reaching, or could amount to nothing at all, the British government says it plans to investigate the financial problems plaguing many professional clubs within the UK.
The British department for culture, media and sport announced that it will be setting up an inquiry to look into the financial set-up of clubs throughout the country, from high profile, debt-heavy teams such as Liverpool and Manchester United, to several smaller clubs that are fighting (or have succumbed to) administration.
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The government's concerns include whether supporters of debt-riddled clubs are being well-served by such financial realities, and whether any changes to current regulations could alleviate the problem.
For their part, the FA seemed to be open to the news.
"It is a welcome opportunity to highlight the numerous governance developments in our rule book over recent years," an FA spokesperson told Reuters, "as well as enabling us to frame the challenges facing the game and how we might appropriately regulate them going forward."
On the surface, observers of the game should be happy with this news, and many surely consider it to be well overdue.
But when looking at the deeper issues, it becomes apparent that the British government may have bitten off a lot more than it can chew.
English, Scottish and Welsh clubs are no longer simply competing against one another, but rather they are all competitors on a global stage that has upped the ante considerably over the past decade or so.
While the FA appears to be playing nice with its statements in support of government investigation, one has to wonder how the individual clubs would feel should recommendations of curbed spending and stricter financial regulation be the result of this inquiry.
Would Man United be okay submitting to a different set of rules than its real competitors - the Real Madrids and AC Milans of the world - whom have no such restrictions placed upon them?
Would Man City willingly go along with a plan that would see them not be able to freely use the considerable financial resources at their disposal?
A cynic would see this as nothing more than an exercise in futility, as the big clubs would not want to be hamstrung by domestic regulations hampering their ability to compete with fellow continental super-teams, while the smaller clubs will continue to happily spend in vain as they try to keep pace.
I'm somewhere in the middle. Clearly, something needs to be done to save many of these free-spending super-clubs from themselves (and from harming the rest of their domestic leagues in the process), but if financial reform comes (and it'll happen at some point, whether the big clubs like it or not) it'll need to be a Europe-wide initiative.