Our game will finally get the love it deserves from telly firm says Doncaster

BY FRASER WILSON

SCOTTISH football will enjoy a “sea change” in TV coverage as a result of the new £160million Sky Sports deal which kicks in next season, according to Neil Doncaster.

The SPFL chief admitted the current package that sees Sky and BT Sport share rights has meant the broadcasters “haven’t given Scottish football the love they show other leagues”.

But he reckons that will change with the new agreement which will see live coverage move exclusively to Sky next term.

Sky has come in for criticism from viewers for its coverage of the game north of the border in comparison to BT.

But Doncaster has urged fans to keep an open mind as he explained the reasoning behind choosing Sky’s bid – which is worth around £30million a year to our clubs.

He said: “Sky say they are focusing on working with us to promote the Scottish game hand in hand as a good partner should.

“So let’s keep an open mind. We will see the Scottish game given the profile and coverage it deserves next year by Sky Sports.

“We went through a process – an auction process effectively – BT and others had the chance to outbid Sky.

“We had joint rights between the two since 2012 and before that with Setanta – 2009 was the last time we had an exclusive partner.

“Since then rights have been shared so it’s perhaps no surprise the broadcasters haven’t given it the love they show other leagues. I’m confident we will see a sea change in the approach with Sky taking up the reins exclusively.

“One of the differences is we currently have 60 games out of 228 shown live – that will go down to 45-48 from next season. The reason is quite deliberate. We are trying to promote and drive the in-stadium experience.

“It’s no surprise that per head of population we have more people coming to our games in Scotland than anywhere else in Europe – about one in 48 of the entire population. It’s about 100,000 people every weekend.”

As Scottish football struggles to live with the impact of the coronavirus, Doncaster fears fan-owned clubs may not be the way to go.

Hearts were the first to suffer but they won’t be the last and Doncaster, speaking on the Price of Football Podcast before the outbreak of what is now a pandemic, warned: “To me, the best model is a benevolent dictator – someone who has the wherewithal to write the cheque if things get difficult and you’ve got clarity of decision making.

“Ultimately if there’s a financial shortfall at a fan-owned club then the banks aren’t going to lend you any more money. Then where do you go? For part-time, community clubs, I don’t have any problem with fan ownership at all.

“But for the bigger numbers or full-time professional clubs, it’s a difficult concept.

There are models that have proven to be successful but fundamentally you have to answer where the money is coming from when there’s a shortfall.”

Doncaster was also asked his thoughts on VAR – and whether it would eventually be introduced in Scottish football. He said: “It’s new technology and you have to be careful when implementing something new that you don’t damage something that is precious.

“Particularly in Scotland, our brand is about passion, drama, excitement and particularly in-stadium excitement. If you end up in a situation where people can’t celebrate