Sources close to Gary Lineker say they are increasingly confident his dispute with the BBC will be resolved to his satisfaction in the next 24 hours, Sky News understands.
Sky News also understands there could be a statement on the Lineker issue as early as Monday morning.
It follows a tumultuous weekend for the BBC and its football shows, notably Match of the Day on Saturday evening which had a much shorter airtime of 20 minutes, without commentary, pundit analysis, post-match interviews or theme music.
Lineker has been involved in a row over impartiality by comparing the language used to launch a new government asylum policy with 1930s Germany.
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MPs Brendan Clarke-Smith and Yvette Cooper react to the news that the BBC has removed Gary Lineker from his presenting role on this week’s edition of Match of the Day
He was suspended by the BBC from presenting MOTD as they said in a statement he would “step back” from hosting the weekly football highlights programme.
It was understood from Sky News that Lineker had refuted this wording and that the corporation had instead forced him off air as he was unwilling to apologise for the comments he had made.
BBC coverage was severely interrupted after Match of the Day pundits Ian Wright and Alan Shearer sparked a mass boycott of the BBC this weekend.
Final Score and Football Focus were pulled from BBC One on Saturday while the late-night Match of the Day programme was trimmed to 20 minutes with no opening theme tune, pundits or commentary.
Radio 5 Live’s coverage was radically altered throughout the day on Saturday and there was a change to its Sunday schedules too, with its usual ‘Premier League Sunday’ show from midday to 2pm replaced by episodes of Sport’s Strangest Crimes.
Match of the Day 2 coverage will be only 14 minutes long on Sunday because of the row.
BBC director general Tim Davie has apologised for the disruption and says the corporation wants Lineker “back on air”.
Lineker, who has not tweeted or commented publicly since he was suspended by the corporation on Friday, dodged reporters’ questions again as he left his home in south-west London to walk his dog.
“I can’t say anything,” he told the media.
