MP’s anger over TV deal for Scotland games
The prospect of Scotland fans paying even more money to watch their heroes during the cost of living crisis is“hard to stomach”, an SNP MP has warned.
The SFA this week announced that all matches involving the men’s national side will be screened exclusively by a little-known Nordic broadcaster, Viaplay, from 2024 to 2028.
Paisley MP Gavin Newlands has now called for Scotland matches to be added to a UK Government list of key sporting events that must be freely available on TV.
A long-running deal with Sky Sports will come to an end after Scotland’s World Cup play-off campaign against Ukraine and possibly Wales in June.
The SFA effectively gave up any say on who broadcasts men’s team games after it signed up to UEFA’s centralised bidding process, which guarantees nations a cut of revenues.
Stockholm-based Viaplay is almost entirely unknown in the UK and hopes to launch in the country by the end of next year.
The deal was signed by UEFA and announced by the SFA on Wednesday, with fans left raging at having to sign up to another broadcaster.
Newlands said the timing couldn’t be worse for supporters given the cost of living crisis.
“This latest lucrative deal will be hard to stomach for many fans who face yet another hit to their pockets,”he continued.
“We are in the middle of a cost-ofliving crisis that is putting real pressure on people’s incomes.
“For many, football is more than just a sport - it offers an escape to people from their personal challenges and circumstances and can deliver moments of pure joy.
“If Scottish national team games were included on the UK Government’s list of events that must be broadcast free to air, we wouldn’t soon have the shambolic situation where football in Scotland will be shown across four different broadcasters with three different subscriptions needed.”
Mr Newlands added:“This lack of access has consequences for the future health of the sport also. I’ve spoken before about the short-sightedness of having major national sport events hidden behind a paywall.
“The experience of cricket in England - where coverage moving to Sky TV from terrestrial TV led to a major drop in grassroots participation and ended up with the authorities inventing an entire cricket competition to get back on terrestrial TV - shows how excluding most of the watching public can have hugely detrimental effects.”
The SFA yesterday insisted it was working with Viaplay to ensure that some matches would be made freely available.
SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell defended the decision to sell central negotiating rights to UEFA.
He said:“We are pleased that Viaplay recognise the value of the Scotland men’s national team and look forward to them broadcasting what will hopefully be yet more successful qualification campaigns for this current Scotland side.
“The guaranteed income that we receive through UEFA’s centralised media-rights sales allows us to continue to grow the national game.
“The finances help us to invest in a multitude of areas, including the grassroots game, girls’and women’s football, coach education and parafootball, helping us harness the power of football to grow and develop the game.”