Premier League giants unhappy
Clubs want larger slice of the TV pie
The Premier League’s leading clubs will seek a larger slice of international television cash at a summit this week, with Liverpool owner John Henry expressing irritation at the ongoing subsidizing of lower-ranking teams.
Along with the rest of the top six, Liverpool last year failed to secure an agreement on a new formula to end the equal split of income from overseas channels between the 20 clubs. But talks have continued and the divisive issue is set to be the main talking point at the league’s annual meeting on Thursday.
“It’s a disagreement based entirely on governance,” Henry told The Associated Press. “Everyone in the league knows what the large clubs bring to the value of foreign rights, but the large clubs don’t have the votes to change something that should have changed as media rights changed over the past 25 years.”
About half the clubs in October accepted 35 per cent of the foreign TV revenue being dispersed based on league positions, but any change requires the approval of 14 teams.
There is a meritocratic allocation of domestic TV revenue, with half of the split depending on a team’s finishing place and live appearances on British channels. The remaining half is shared equally, giving each team $47 million.
Since international revenue is distributed equally, the 20 clubs each collected $55 million last season, regardless of where they finished in the standings or how appealing their games are to foreign viewers.
“You cannot stick with the same media strategy forever any more than you can stick with the same football tactics forever,” said Henry, the Boston Red Sox owner who led the Fenway Sports Group takeover of Liverpool in 2010.
Liverpool earned $195 million from the league in the recently completed season. For finishing fourth, the club collected $44 million. Demonstrating their domestic appeal, the Champions League finalists banked another $44 million based on their Premier League appearances in Britain, more than the three teams above them and the same as sixth-place Arsenal.
The distribution model ensured that even last-place West Bromwich Albion received $127 million, bulked out by the foreign cash that doesn’t take into consideration the team’s popularity.
British broadcasters are also obliged to show each team live at least 10 times per season. Despite only nine of its games being aired, West Brom still received domestic income based on the minimum requirement being met.
When the league was established in 1992, clubs never anticipated the overseas demand to watch games. English soccer was in the doldrums after being blighted by crowd disorder.
But now the league is enjoying a huge uplift in the value of rights overseas.
There was a tenfold increase in China to $700 million and NBC’s six-year deal in the U.S. through 2022 is worth $1 billion.