Scottish Professional Football League chiefs "stand accused of underselling" the game to TV bosses by one-tenth of its real value, according to the Scotland DAILY RECORD.
Charles Barnett -- a partner in the Professional Sports Group at accountancy and business advisory firm BDO LLP -- "fired the warning just weeks after English top-flight sides celebrated landing a bumper" £5.1B ($77.8B) windfall from Sky and BT Sport. The three-year deal "dwarves the Scottish Professional Football League's current agreement."
It runs until '17 -- with a three-year option for an extension -- but the £15M ($23M) a year it pays out to the SPFL "is shared by all 42 member clubs."
Barnett fears even the likes of Celtic or a rejuvenated Rangers "can forget about ever signing big earners from the English Championship, far less the EPL, if the gap between the two nations' income streams are allowed to widen."
He said, "To put the current financial anomaly into perspective, the £20 million ($35M) cost of showing two English Premiership games on Sky is more than all of the broadcast fees that Scottish football receives in a year" (DAILY RECORD, 3/3). In a separate piece the DAILY RECORD reported on how "bad an arrangement" the Scottish TV deal is. Just last month rugby league "agreed a five-year deal with Sky for a whopping" £200M ($305M) -- £25M ($38M) more per season than the money Scottish football earns. But "it’s not just rugby league that is booting our game into touch." Union "is also raking in far more money than our football."
The Aviva Premiership last month announced a new deal with BT Sport that is worth £38M ($58M) a year -- £23M ($35M) more than Neil Doncaster and Co. secured (DAILY RECORD, 3/4).
NECESSARY EVIL: In Glasgow, Graeme Macpherson wrote football and TV "have always had an uneasy relationship." Without TV income, however, the game "would shrink away." Supporters "may be inconvenienced and attendances may drop off but in the eyes of the clubs those are sacrifices worth making in order to appease Sky Sports, BT, BBC or whoever else will pay for the right to screen their matches." In Scotland in particular, "a national league without a title sponsor probably needs all the financial help it can get." Here are some examples of other "small to medium-sized European nations and their football broadcasting contracts." Clubs in the Greek Super League will share €40M ($44M) per year until '17, with a two-year extension being negotiated that could take that figure up to €43M ($48M) each season until '19.
In Belgium, the terms "are even more generous." The Belgium Pro League last year negotiated a six-year deal worth a minimum of €55M ($61M) per season, a sum that could rise as high as €70M ($78M) each year when foreign rights are taken into the equation. It is "little wonder, then," that some Scottish football fans "may feel they are getting a raw deal from Sky and BT." Those who operate in the field of sports broadcasting, however, "have warned that the situation isn't likely to improve hugely any time soon." There "is no clamour among rival stations to show Scottish football, no demand that will drive the price shooting up" (HERALD SCOTLAND, 3/4).
