There is a "huge opportunity" for rights holders to bypass traditional broadcast deals and screen sports themselves, according to Fiona Green, CEO of sports consultancy Winners. She said, "Whilst ESPN and YouTube are doing this whole OTT broadcasting, there is an opportunity for the rights holders themselves to bypass the broadcaster entirely and stream directly. Live footage is not always the be all and end all. People want content when they want it to suit their own uses. It might be that rights holders understand their fan base so well they can be the deliverers of content."
Green, who was speaking at the World Rugby conference in London, advised rights holders to use the option of broadcasting sport though their own channels as a negotiating tool.
She said, “Their [the rights holder] negotiation position at the table with the broadcaster will become so much stronger if they can say, 'You know what? I might accept your deal or I am going to direct to my 100 million fan database who I engage with on a regular basis, who I know will pay $10 a month, which doubles the rights fee you are asking me.'"
One option for rights holders, Green said, would be to offer consumers a mix of third-party broadcasting and broadcasting through its own channel. InCrowd Sports CEO Aiden Cooney said, "It’s not just an opportunity, it’s an absolute essential requirement for right holders to look into this in order to remain sustainable."
Sports marketing agency Two Circles Chair Matt Rogan said since the arrival of iTunes disrupting the traditional music distribution channel, the “industry has not been the same.”
Rogan added, "We are kidding ourselves if we think the distribution model for top, middle and bottom tier rights is going to be the same in five years’ time, let alone 15 years’ time and I think the smart broadcasters and smart rights holders are starting to play with different models."
John Reynolds is a writer in London.
