[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by jfman

Far from the end of Old Boy.

They believe the rights have peaked. Rational capitalists have chosen to not conduct a blind auction and instead have negotiated with the existing parties to continue on the existing terms.

They’d be failing in their duties to the member clubs to not seek to maximise the value of the rights. If there was a “deep pockets” streamer out there of any credible standing we would have seen an auction. We have not.

For competition reasons they could not have done this without Covid. But that is not to say Covid forced their hand - it offered them a convenient out.

Extract from the letter dated 18 March in Huxie’s links:

The football pyramid has suffered significant financial losses at every level as a result of COVID 19 with existential challenges faced by many clubs and stakeholders. Government has recognised this and sought to address these losses as far as possible, through for example, support for the National League System and women’s football. Government also has a major role to play in facilitating the return of supporters, the absolute foundation for a strong return for all next season. However, you have asked, and we have agreed, that professional football should, where possible, finance its own survival [/B]and recovery. In line with the Government’s request, the Premier League has taken significant steps to support the wider football family, fulfilling our commitment made to the Secretary of State last summer. We have already provided up to £65 million in rescue funding to English Football League (EFL) clubs during the 2020/21 season, alongside additional amount funding for the National League system and the women’s game. Our solidarity and good causes programmes are without financial equal in sport, and to my knowledge, our levels of commitment to the rest of the football pyramid are not matched by any equivalent action taken in any other sector.

All clubs and leagues have suffered from the absence of supporters and matchday revenue, and those at the top end of the pyramid, including the Premier League, have also had to deal with very significant reductions in broadcast and commercial revenue. By the end of the current 2020/21 season, the Premier League and its member Clubs will have incurred revenue losses in the region of £2 billion, [redacted]. Given the trajectory of the pandemic, those losses will continue at least until the end of the 2021/22 season. Furthermore, the course of the virus remains uncertain and we can expect the global economic climate to remain unstable for the foreseeable future.

To be clear, I am not arguing that the value of the rights has not fallen - I think the value has fallen, largely due to a change of strategy by Sky. However, that is not the reason for the proposal to avoid a rights auction on this occasion.