EFL MUST HITCH A RIDE ON AMAZON WAGON

AMAZON is not perfect. From streaming lags to inconvenient kick-off times, its coverage of the Premier League raises a variety of issues.

Long-term, however, the online giant offers the best hope for cash-strapped football fans priced out of watching the sport they love.

Theoretically, a competitive marketplace drives down consumer prices. In football, the opposite has proved true.

Since BT muscled in on Sky’s monopoly, viewers have been forced to cough up for two separate subscriptions – at a higher combined price – to watch the exact same number of matches.

With broadband and phone costs, anyone wanting access to both broadcasters is looking at a minimum of £500 per year.

Yet if Jeff Bezos deems his £90m rights grab value for money and uses his financial might to outbid Sky for the Premier League’s premium packages – and keeps subscription prices at current rates – punters could pay just £79 a year for their fix.

Under Richard Scudamore, the Premier League was reluctant to sever ties with

Sky, whose coverage helped grow the brand. But Scudamore resigned in 2018 and a new chief executive is likely to have no such allegiance.

If Amazon did assume Sky’s position, their prices – for a service millions of people already use – will send audience figures through the roof.

If Amazon invests heavily in football, it is essential that the EFL, now locked in an unpopular deal with Sky and accused of failing to market itself adequately, takes steps to convince Bezos and co that they, too, deserve a place on the bandwagon.

Amazon’s emergence could be the biggest revolution since the birth of the Premier League and the EFL must not be left in the dust as it was then.