By Ian Palmer
The English Premier League got a whole lot richer on Feb. 10 when it signed a new television broadcasting deal. The league is already regarded as the richest on the planet and it will now easily solidify that position. The Premier League signed a three-year domestic deal with Sky Sports and BT which is worth more than $8 billion to its 20 teams. The new contract is a 70 per-cent jump from the previous one which was signed in 2012. Sky and BT agreed to pay a combined 5.136 billion British pounds to the league during the recent bidding war.
This allows the networks to broadcast 168 live games in the UK over the next three seasons between 2016 and 2019. In addition, the league recently signed a deal with the BBC which was worth 204 million pounds ($311 million) just to allow the network to show highlights of the games. Fans also need to remember that the new contract is just for domestic rights only. The league also continues to rake in billions of dollars for worldwide broadcasting rights.
The new deal will mean Premier League clubs will continue to spend more than other leagues when it comes to player transfers. Richard Scudamore, the chief executive of the Premier League, was certainly pleased with the influx of money and stated, “It will make our clubs even more competitive against our European counterparts, which has got to be good for us.”
Sky TV, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch, will chip in with 4.18 billion pounds ($6.4 billion) for the rights to 126 live matches per season. This is 10 more than the current contract and is an 83 per cent increase in costs for Sky. BT successfully bid on the remaining 42 live contests at a cost of 960 million pounds ($1.46 billion). The current deal cost them 738 million pounds ($1.12 billion). Ironically, just 168 live games are shown in the UK, while many other parts of the world are allowed to broadcast all 380 games live per season.
But while the money continues to pour in, the Premier League often struggles when it comes to European competition. This leads many experts to believe the quality of the league is overrated. The new contract will enable English clubs to outbid most European competitors when it comes to buying players, but it remains to be seen if this will help their showing in tournaments such as the European Champions League.
For example, bet365 lists Spanish club Real Madrid to win the European Champions League for the second straight season at 11/4, while German Bundesliga team Bayern Munich is favored at 5/2 and Barcelona of Spain is third at 11/3. The three English teams remaining are Chelsea 7/1, Manchester City, 14/1 and Arsenal at 20/1.
