September 29 – In what is perhaps a sign of the times in football’s monied circles, the Premier League’s big six clubs are demanding a larger share of the new international television deals that will start in 2019. In the current three-year cycle clubs earn an equal £39 million annually from the aggregate £3 billion deal.
Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City argue that they are the main draw for international television buyers and should receive a greater proportion of that revenue.
Premier League chairman Richard Scudamore has proposed 35% of the revenue from the new TV deals should instead of being allocated equally, should be disbursed as prize money and dictated by final league position. A secret meeting of the 14 clubs outside the big six this week have initially rejected that proposal.
Next week a meeting of all 20 clubs will discuss the issue again. A two thirds majority vote (14 clubs) is required to pass the motion.
The overseas TV deal for the Premier League is viewed as the biggest area of revenue growth potential and deals already agreed for the 2018-22 rights cycle are already showing increases. In contrast the feeling is that the bumper £5.1 billion deal for domestic broadcast rights may have reached a ceiling.
Premier League clubs are scrambling for regional sponsor deals with the big six clubs leading the way by some margin over the rest of the league. Five of the big six clubs have foreign owners leading increasingly to a sentiment more frequently heard in investor circles that it is a league that just happens to be played in England.
If the big six clubs don’t have their demands met then what next? Breakaway feels like too nuclear an option with the prospect of huge legal settlements for the breaking of agreements and the unstability that would cause in the marketplace generally likely to benefit no-one except rival leagues chasing the cash the Premier League generates. But on the basis that you should never call the bluff of an entrepreneurial owner, the 14 clubs will need to think carefully.
One alternative could be the cancellation of the Premier League’s collective international rights sales with clubs then going their own way – but that would still require a two thirds majority. If that was to happen it would need to happen fast and would open the market up to the increasingly European competitors, in particular La Liga’s increasingly successful international sales team.
Any form of income redistribution could potentially threaten the competitive balance of the Premier League which, while dominated by its big clubs, still has the ability to generate unexpected results every week – a major selling point in markets where the gambling influence on the broadcast distribution is a major factor. By unlevelling the playing field the big clubs could find they are spoiling their own lunch.
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