December 15 – The idea of playing a Premier League match overseas, heavily mooted a few years ago, will not take place in the foreseeable future.
That’s according to Richard Scudamore, the Premier League’s chief executive who was behind the original proposal to play a so-called 39th top-flight game abroad, cashing in on the popularity of the English game.
Scudamore now admits that the idea is unlikely to bear fruit due to widespread opposition.
“The clubs are keen for us to keep developing the concept but we’re no nearer,” he was quoted as saying. “The idea of an extra game is gone. Whether you play an extra season game [overseas], that has challenges, not least among the fans, which we take into consideration.”
“I bear the scars from thinking it’s a good idea. A lot of the clubs think it’s a good idea … but there is absolutely no timeline and no idea when it might happen”
The Premier League is not alone in looking overseas, however. The Italian Super Cup between Juventus and Napoli will be played in Qatar on December 22, while the French Super Cup has taken place outside the country for the past six years. But league games are a different matter, especially English league games.
One innovation that will take place is to start screening Premier League matches on Friday nights from the start of the 2016-17 season in what will seen by the purists as another example of the gradual erosion of tradition caused by television requirements.
Up to 10 games will be shown live on Friday evenings under the terms of the new broadcasting rights.
In all, rights will be sold for 168 live games a year for the three years of the new contract, up from the current 154, with the value expected to exceed the £3 billion sold in the last auction in 2012. No single broadcaster will be allowed to purchase more than 126 of the matches available.
The battle for the domestic Premier League contracts will see two corporate giants locked in what could potentially be a life and death game. The safest course for the broadcast business of both Murdoch’s Sky (the current leader in the market with the most games) and BT Sports’ growing footprint would be to split the game evenly.
Sky cannot afford to be without Premier League football which is the driver of its pay services and underpins its whole broadcast operation. BT Sport needs more football if it is to become a challenger to Sky in the marketplace.
For both the stakes are potentially higher than Champions League qualification for the big English clubs.
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