Top clubs eye £11bn foreign TV jackpot

THE massive rise expected in overseas Premier League TV rights income over the next decade explains why the majority of clubs do not want to relinquish an equal share.

The Big Six have so far failed in their demand for 35 per cent of the foreign cash to be allocated according to league placings, following the adjournment of a vote at this week’s club summit.

At least half of the top flight are very wary about the issue because the overseas market is such a growth area. TV rights experts at the PL clubs are confident there will be a 40 per cent increase in the value of overseas rights — currently worth £3.5billion — in the tender starting from 2019.

And they are predicting that 40 per cent rise will be repeated over the next two three-year cycles for TV rights, making the overseas market worth a mind-boggling £11bn by 2029, far outstripping the saturated domestic market.

That figure could even be on the conservative side because it is overseas rights that Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Google and Chinese companies Alibaba and Tencent are most likely to fully embrace. lTHE

fall-out from the Ben Stokes affair has led to the England Ashes squad keeping well out of the limelight. Yorkshire captain Gary Ballance stepped aside when the rest of the county’s squad donned wigs in tribute to the retiring Ryan Sidebottom, while Joe Root (above) did not attend last night’s end-of-season Yorkshire dinner. Nor, more predictably, did Stokes appear at the Durham one. PHIL BEArd, the likeable former QPr chief executive, should perhaps avoid moderating any more sports conference panels. Bumbling Beard mixed up his two guests — FA chief executive Martin Glenn and former rFU CEO Ian ritchie — twice in a matter of minutes on stage at Leaders in Sport and made statements rather than asking questions. Then, when Glenn brought up Sam Allardyce, Beard missed the glaring opportunity to get a reaction to Big Sam’s threat to sue the FA. lFACEBOOK

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