The controversial rules under which Everton and Nottingham Forest were docked points last season have unexpectedly been retained for next season.
Clubs had been expected to adopt a new financial system for 2025-26, but it is understood uncertainty around Manchester City's challenge to the league's rules on commercial deals, plus the unknown impact of the independent regulator, has prompted them to press pause.
That means the profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) will stay in force next season.
Those rules, which allow clubs maximum permitted losses of £105million over three seasons, led to Everton being deducted eight points for two separate breaches last season and Forest being docked four points.
An alleged breach of the rules by Leicester for the period ending 2022-23 is also the subject of ongoing arbitration.
The rules have previously been criticised by Aston Villa co-owner Nassef Sawiris, who told the Financial Times last year they were "not good for football".
The two main planks of the proposed new financial system - the squad cost rules (SCR) and top-to-bottom anchoring (TBA) - are being trialled in shadow this season and had been expected to be introduced for 2025-26.
Sources close to the league said there was unanimous support for SCR trials to be continued when club executives met in central London on Thursday, while anchoring will also continue to be tested in the background.
The SCR are similar to UEFA's existing financial sustainability rules, in that they allow clubs to spend up to 85 per cent of revenue on squad-related costs. From next season, clubs in UEFA competitions will face a 70 per cent revenue-to-spending limit.
Anchoring is even more controversial, given that it effectively caps the amount any club can spend as a multiple of the income earned by the league's bottom club.
While clubs are happy to go on testing both mechanisms, there is understood to be a nervousness around introducing either right now.
The rules which govern commercial deals in the Premier League are being challenged by Manchester City, who insist they should be null and void after an arbitration process ruled last October that aspects of them were unlawful.
City are also separately challenging changes made to the rules introduced last November, in light of the panel ruling. If those rules were to be ripped up, it would remove the 'fair market value' restrictions on deals done between clubs and entities linked to their ownership.
On top of that, the requirements football's new independent regulator will place on clubs remain unclear.
The league was also facing the threat of legal action from the players' union, the Professional Footballers' Association, if either of the new mechanisms had been voted through on Thursday, with anchoring a particular concern for the PFA who feel it amounts to a hard salary cap.
The PFA declined to comment following Thursday's decision to stick with the PSR, but sources close to the union felt the delay indicated clubs were also keen to get more information about the rules before pushing ahead.
Union sources also expressed a hope that it would provide an opportunity for more effective consultation around the changes from the Premier League.
The Premier League insists it has fulfilled its obligations to date to consult with the PFA, with a spokesperson for the league saying last week: "The PFA has had multiple opportunities since March 2024 to provide feedback on the rules and the principles that underpin them.
"While we always remain open to discussions and feedback, we are extremely disappointed that instead of engaging with the substance of the proposals, the PFA has chosen to issue legal demands.
"Clubs will continue to evaluate the proposals with a view to bringing them to a vote at the appropriate time."
One vote that did take place at Thursday's shareholders meeting was unanimous election of Sir Gary Hickinbottom as the new chair of the league's independent judicial panel.
He replaces Murray Rosen, whose five-year term has now ended.
