Premier League Exec Chair Richard Scudamoregetty images
Premier League clubs will make a final decision this summer on "whether to cave in to demands" by ManU, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and Man City to be awarded a "bigger share of its next television deal," according to Ben Rumsby of the London TELEGRAPH. Premier League Exec Chair Richard Scudamore told the league's 20 teams at Friday's quarterly shareholders' meeting that the row over their '19-22 overseas broadcast revenue "must be resolved at its annual general meeting in June." The "Big Six" were "thwarted in their first attempt to grab more of that cash" in October when rivals rejected a plan put forward by Scudamore that would have resulted in 35% of money currently distributed equally among all clubs "allotted instead as prize money based on the final standings this season." Domestic TV money is "already divided meritocratically" and the Big Six argue it is "unfair for that not to be the case for the remainder of the league’s broadcast revenue," as well as claiming it is "their own popularity abroad which has driven up its value." Their opponents, meanwhile, contend the overall competitiveness of the league is "behind any increase and that eroding that would be self-defeating." With overseas cash forecast to grow by up to 40% in the next cycle, that means the difference between the proportion of money given to the champion and the bottom-placed side -- currently a ratio of 1.6-to-one -- is "poised to shrink, compounding the Big Six’s sense of injustice" (TELEGRAPH, 4/15).
