EPL club Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has "accused football of selling its soul to television and claimed that broadcasters do not pay enough money given the amount of control they exert over the game," according to Owen Gibson of the GUARDIAN. Ferguson said, "When you shake hands with the devil you have to pay the price. Television is God at the moment." He added, "It shows itself quite clearly because when you see the fixture lists come out now, they can pick and choose whenever they want the top teams on television. ... You get some ridiculous situations when you're playing on Wednesday night in Europe and then at lunchtime the following Saturday." Ferguson said that broadcasters "should pay more for the rights to live football, given the Premier League sold its product to more than 200 countries." Ferguson: "When you think of that I don't think we get enough money." The EPL secured about US$5.4B "from its most recent round of television deals, which run until the end of next season." ManU alone earned US$94.1M "from domestic TV last season." Team Owners the Glazer family are "believed to be convinced of the merits of the collective model but are determined to better exploit the limited rights that clubs have within their control by signing deals with international telecom and media companies" (GUARDIAN, 9/27). Ferguson said, "I have no great feelings for (individual rights)." He added that ManU would "love to have it but it should not happen. (The clubs) should have more control over television and how much access they can have, but in terms of the rest of the Premier League, it is fair to have all equal shares" (London TELEGRAPH, 9/27).
