New chief will define Premier League future
Scudamore’s successor could oversee huge spike in revenue or see Big Six break away Move is towards new media and new markets
The man who once turned Concorde Pepsi blue and launched the BBC iplayer versus the man who bought The Voice for ITV and drove the broadcaster’s business in the United States. That Tim Davie and Tom Betts are believed to be among the runners to become the chief executive of the Premier League is no surprise.
Even if it is not them, it is likely to be someone with their kind of background, rather than from football, which points to the direction in which the organisation is heading as it searches for the person to succeed Richard Scudamore. And that is towards new media, new platforms and the monetising of new markets.
If it works, the Premier League could be on the brink of an astonishing spike in revenue – yet again – but if it does not then its collective strength could be seriously questioned, with the “Big Six” clubs possibly renewing their threats to break away and be part of some kind of European league.
In fact, the key date for the future of the Premier League might not be Scudamore’s departure in December but what happens at Christmas 2019 following one of the final broadcast deals that he cut last June in his role as both chief executive and chairman (a nonexecutive chairman is also to be appointed once the chief executive has been confirmed).
It was later that month, at the league’s shareholders meeting, that Scudamore announced he was stepping down after nearly 20 years of extraordinary success and expansion.
The news, a bombshell to many, was included in “any other business” and, afterwards, it was also confirmed that he had secured a compromise deal between the clubs on the distribution mechanism for overseas rights, which is regarded as the growth area with the domestic market effectively saturated.
The “Big Six” – the Manchester clubs, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea – wanted a larger share and this was a fundamental threat to the collective arrangement that is at the heart of the league.
Heading this off was another significant Scudamore success and his legacy will be a powerful one. He is the man who held it all together because the fact is the Premier League is both a dynamic organisation and a strange concept.
There are the 20 clubs who all understand the strength of collective bargaining power and the strength of the league – which is undoubtedly the most successful and best marketed in the world, and certainly from a broadcast perspective, where rights now total a mind-boggling £8.3billion.
However, when they meet, each club vote in their own interest so it is the duty of the chief executive to wrestle with that juxtaposition and keep the peace to stop factions developing and threatening that collective strength.
And all this at a time when the clubs are owned by a selection of oligarchs, Gulf oil billionaires, American venture capitalists and the remaining British owners. Money – and Scudamore – therefore has been the glue.
He found a way through the overseas dispute but also – in the crucial, final deal – sold the remaining two TV packages that had not been bought when the majority of the deals were agreed in February. One of those two packages was bought by Amazon, which meant that Sky and BT’S stranglehold on Premier League football ended.
The online American retailer won the rights to show all 10 matches on Boxing Day, from 2019, as part of a three-year deal. It was announced that the games would be available for free to Amazon Prime’s UK members, who will also be able to watch a round of midweek matches as part of the package.
The value of the deal was not disclosed but the implications could be huge. It is the first time that a package of live-streaming matches has been sold by the Premier League, with Scudamore appearing to have identified technology companies such as Amazon, Facebook, Netflix and Youtube, with their deep pockets, as the future when it comes to driving up earnings from media rights.
There is a feeling among clubs that this type of platform is the way ahead for the broadcasting deals the Premier League will cut.
The theory is that customers will not want to continue with the monthly subscription formats that have always been the model on offer and that these will be replaced as old-fashioned and out-of-date.
It means that the pay-tv market could be about to undergo a revolution, featuring more streaming platforms, such as Amazon, if the deal they have can be made to work. Therefore, having a chief executive who has this kind of new media experience could be the key. It will be fascinating to see what happens on Boxing Day 2019.
It could take the broadcasting revenues to an unprecedented level, which is where executives such as Davie and Betts come in, if they are, indeed, on the shortlist from which a preferred candidate is due to be recommended next month by a five-strong panel led by Bruce Buck, the Chelsea chairman.
Davie, a former marketeer, runs BBC Studios and has headed the organisation’s commercial activities for five years, while Betts is ITV’S director of corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions and has overseen its drive into international markets.
Both have spent time in America and have expertise in the shift away from what is known as “linear broadcasting” and to non-linear media: where the consumer selects shows (or, with the case of football, games) to watch through a demand-type service.
Making that work, and being the person to oversee that, could well define the future of the Premier League.