TV riches make paying fans less crucial to clubs: report
Facebook to broadcast La Liga games for free in Indian subcontinent
LONDON, Aug 14, (AFP): Premier League clubs receive so much money from television half of them could still turn a profit even if the stadia were empty, according to the BBC.
Using statistics compiled from the 2016/17 season, during which clubs benefited from a record £8.3billion ($10.6 billion, 9.3 billion euros) global TV revenue, income from match days contributed less than a fifth of every £1 earned by 18 Premier League sides.
The number of clubs that would have recorded pre-tax profits even if match day income was taken away rose from two in 2015/16 to 10 in 2016/17.
Only Tottenham Hotspur of the socalled big six features among those clubs, with West Bromwich Albion topping the list.
Dr Rob Wilson, a sport finance specialist at Sheffield Hallam University, told the BBC the sea change in club finances came with the TV deal agreed in 2012 which brought in £3.018 billion. “That is when the focus really went toward generating TV money rather than match day ticket receipts,” he told the BBC.
“The revenue structures of those clubs are fairly well there to stay now.
“When you get a £120m payout from the Premier League for kicking a ball around, you can play in an empty stadium if you need to.” However, Malcolm Clarke, chair of the Football Supporters Federation, said TV companies such as Sky and BT Sport would not be prepared to pay so much money if it wasn’t for the atmosphere inside the grounds.
“I’d say they are the most important element,” Clarke told the BBC.
“Players and managers come and go, but we are always there.
“The reason that they can get lucrative TV deals is because the product shows the crowd, the noise, the away fans and the atmosphere – it is all part of it.” “How boring would it be to watch a Premier League game in an empty stadium?” The importance of
Sevilla’s Spanish midfielder Pablo Sarabia (right) vies with Barcelona’s Brazilian midfielder Philippe Coutinho during the Spanish Super Cup final between Sevilla and FC Barcelona at Ibn Batouta Stadium in the Moroccan city
of Tangiers on Aug 12. (AFP)
fans attending matches is recognised in Spain who introduced fines for clubs at the beginning of the 2016/17 season if a ground had empty spaces and was captured on television.
The Premier League issued a statement in light of the BBC report saying efforts had been made to encourage fans to attend matches, especially to travel to away games – including introducing a £30 cap on ticket prices for travelling fans for the 2016/17 season.
“The high-quality football produced by clubs, combined with the commitment of fans, led to an extremely high stadium utilisation of 96% in the Premier League last season (2017/18), and similar levels have been achieved for many consecutive years,” read the Premier League statement.
Lionel Messi, Gareth Bale and a host of La Liga stars will be beamed for free to viewers in the Indian subcontinent as part of a landmark deal with Facebook to broadcast live matches, the Spanish top flight division said Tuesday.
All 380 football matches of the new 2018-2019 La Liga season, which begins Friday, will be available to watch on the social media network in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, La Liga said in a statement.
“We are delighted to team up with Facebook and be able to bring the action closer to all followers of La Liga in the Indian subcontinent,” said La Liga President Javier Tebas.
“La Liga is a reference in world football and it is a great satisfaction for us that now, the number of people who can watch matches live in this geographic area will be greater than ever and they will be able to do so for free through Facebook.” The deal will last for the next three seasons and will include pre- and post-match analysis programmes. The financial details of the agreement were not disclosed in the statement but Spanish sports daily Marca reported that the deal was worth 90 million euros ($105.5 million).
In June La Liga announced it had renewed its contract for five seasons, between 2019-2024, for the international broadcast rights for the Spanish championship for around 4.48 billion euros – or about 896 million euros per season, a 30 percent increase over the previous agreement.
– ‘New audiences’ – Facebook earlier this month agreed a deal with UK broadcaster Eleven Sports to show one La Liga and one Serie A game per week on its platform.
Five-time World Player of the Year Ronaldo’s Serie A debut with Juventus at Chievo on Aug 18, and Atletico Madrid’s La Liga opener at Valencia two days later are among the matches scheduled for free-to-air viewing. Barcelona’s visit to Valladolid on Aug 25 is also included. “This partnership reflects our commitment to helping broadcasters reach new audiences, build their brands and deliver a great viewing experience for sports fans on Facebook,” Rhys Beer, Facebook’s live sports programming lead for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said at the time.
The deal is just the latest step towards the online sector securing lucrative live football contracts after Amazon secured the rights to show 20 Premier League matches a season for three years in the UK, starting from the 2019/20 season in June.
The US company breaks up the recent dominance of Sky and BT Sport of lucrative Premier League TV rights in a first for the online sector that is threatening to shake up the traditional sports rights market.
India has a billion-plus mobile phone users – more than any other country on earth and close to half a billion people with internet access, most via their smartphones, that make streaming video from sites like Facebook possible.