Some thoughts to the 70% increase in English Premier League TV income:
Our financial strategy
Stop feeling sorry for ourselves. We are not part of the easy-money league, so instead of complaining about Burnley’s financial strength, exploit the massive inefficiencies in England. Lazy recruitment strategies, unscientific risk-taking and chronic managerial processes put a lot of money on the table for those who know how to run a football club properly.
If your forward business model involves selling players, better to be close to a rich, lazy, unscientific and chronic league.
Player values
After the last increase in TV income in England was announced transfer fees appreciated markedly, even before the increase came into effect. Forgive the impersonal language, but player commodities are more valuable this week than they were last week, not just in England, but in Scotland and everywhere else.
The goalkeeper we sold for £10m last summer would command a higher fee, if we sold him next summer. A player we ‘hoped’ to earn £7m from selling should now have his target value adjusted to £10m.
More than ever, it is important to manage playing assets. Buy assets with development potential, hoard their registrations if necessary – Benfica employ and loan-out players to top leagues who would easily get into their first team. It helps build the player’s value, which helps build Benfica.
Player trading velocity
If player trading is important going forward, my hunch is that trading velocity should increase. To do this properly, it is absolutely crucial we invest more in the scouting process. Scouting and recruitment is as important to the club as tactics and team selection. Resource it accordingly.
SPFL TV deal
I’ve read lots about what we should do next in Scotland with regards to our TV deal, some ideas have merit, some not. What is perfectly clear is that the current deal is practically worthless. We must change. The potential downside is almost immaterial, as we’re starting from such a low point.
Bin SKY and BT, go it alone, or get one of the new media players involved, or better still, collaborate with the Dutch league, which has its own TV channel, have learned some lessons, have many of our challenges, and would benefit from the fresh content we could provide. There are more leagues in Europe with exactly the same challenges, if a pan-European league is a step too far, a collaborative TV infrastructure is a good start.
In football TV terms, we are the Straw Man, with nothing to lose. Lead a path away from Sky and BT, educate fans on how to link up with Virgin, Amazon or an equivalent, do something genuinely radical.
The Bubble
It’s a bubble. Just because the English TV market has not burst, doesn’t mean it’s not going to. Ask yourself a few questions:
Is this level of contract affordable by Sky or BT?
Will this new cash make the downside of relegation from the EPL any easier?
Will this cash make EPL clubs any more likely to change their business model, specifically, will they be more likely to spend less because they no longer fear relegation?
No, no and no. The downside of relegation from the EPL will become more onerous and clubs will fear relegation more.
Sky are enjoying enormous market power but the entrance into the market of Amazon Prime, Netflix and others, while the offerings from Virgin and BT have matured, leaves Sky open to competition in the TV and film market in the future which they have never experienced before.
You no longer need Sky to watch multi-channel TV, round-the-clock news, recent or legacy films. Their failure to maintain future Champions League rights, together with the fact that they are legislated out of the World Cup and European Championship rights, reduces their assets down to one lucrative prize: English Premier League football.
English Premier League football is the asset they are betting the farm on. They need this and as long as the ‘farm’ exists in the form of a nation uniformly consuming TV through them, they will pay whatever they can to retain these rights.
BT are in the process of buying market share. They are vastly better funded than Sky and need a strategic place going forward (which traditionally telephony isn’t).
It’s not a case of if Sky’s ability or desire to pay changes but when. Then the bubble will burst, then football will plunge into a reverse gear.
Until then, we play the system.
Busy week for CQN11 St Patrick’s Dinner bookings (Friday 13 March, Kerrydale Suite, Celtic Park). Email me for booking details, celticquicknews@gmail.com
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SoT-Icardi linked with Man U and Chelsea this week over here.
Too right, stuff the sheep.
angelgabriel
15:11 on
13 February, 2015
Excathedra44.
I was blissfully unaware of extensive
sheep vandalism.
If so, as you say.
Stuff them .HH
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Thanks for reply.
Yes the fact Celtic did not make a big deal of this remains a bit of a mystery,I guess it was due to the fact both Clubs have extended professional courtesy over the years to each other,and in fairness I have never felt threatened at Pittodrie,although in various wrong ends over the years.
I feel the Tonev situation has caused the relationship to be strained.
HH
Keeping The Faith
Sevco will molocate the flag taker-dooners tonight -))))
!!bada bing !! @ 15 17 .
Yes .!
Celtic head for Perth and clean sheet number nine.
On the Sheep tickets.
Would prefer the stadium to be full. I like it when clubs bring a decent crowd to Celtic Park. It helps with the atmosphere.
Hope Celtic are taking precautions re the selling of tickets for home ends. The Sheep fans are not a shy lot and will happily buy in bulk for the home end.
I think a compromise can still be reached and we can give them more if they give us more. I would also insert a clause for any damange to stadium facilities must be paid by Aberdeen.
LB
Bada Bing
Sorry for the mistaken identity!
Glad you enjoyed the tv series. Film is superb too, with amazing opening shots. Made you feel cold just watching them!
Some great performances, as you say.
Keeping The Faith
15:15 on
13 February, 2015
Sevco as big as 15/8 and Hibees as short as 11/8 tonight, hate it when the bookies catch on to the obvious.
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If they’d caught on Hibs would be about 1/10 ;)
I got Hearts at 2/1 to win the title – seems the bookies want to wait till its official before paying out – oh well extra summer holiday money;) At one stage pre season Hearts were 5/1 to win the Scottish Championship – when they get it wrong, they get it badly wrong:)
HH
.., ……
. …. .. …… …. ……. .. … … – … …
…. ! ….!
!! bada bing !!.
Italian media claim that Icardi is going to Atletico Madrid .
Interesting guy , claims to not like football and never watches it .Prefers basketball ..He famously told Italian tele that football meant nothing more than a well paid job.
Excathedra44
Yep I’d agree with your post about the goat worriers.
For years when they struggled to sell tickets we consistently sold our allocation of 3,500. Suddenly, after some success, it’s reduced to 2,000.
I’m all for atmosphere at the football, in face I think part of the reason games can be so dull is because of the lack of rivalry between supporters in our stadiums these days.
1,800 of them is quite sufficient.
dessybhoy
14:15 on
13 February, 2015
Hvratski Jim
You make a lot of good points, I agree that refereeing has a part tp play but remember it was a Spanish refree we had against Juventus who held our players on numerous occasions to break up play he even booked scott brown for being the victim of a foul
*who picks the refs for the European games……..he husnae gone away.
CELTIC’S William Hill Scottish Cup quarter-final match against Dundee United will take place on Sunday, March 8 at 3.30pm at Tannadice.
The Bhoys set up their clash against Jackie McNamara’s side with a confident 2-0 win over Paul Hartley’s Dundee on Saturday, February 7 and will travel to Tayside to take on the Terrors in the first of a trio of matches against the Arabs.
The teams will also meet in the final of the Scottish League Cup, presented by QTS,on Sunday March 15 before they clash again in their SPFL Premiership match on Saturday March 21 at Celtic Park.
Post of the day at 15.33hrs.
HH
Nice one Trad88, I’m actually surprised hearts weren’t even bigger pre season.
I do recall Ladbrokes offering money back on losing bets if sevco went (and I’m not making this up) unbeaten in league this season!
Hahaha
How clean sheets did Fraser Forster have in a row?
How many
Greenpinata
15:36 on 13 February, 2015
………………………………………
….. …
….! ….!
Marching to the big hoose.
Drums ? Flutes ? Flegs ?
Big John Brown.
Dignity personified.
Protest & survive. Eh too late.
I agree with most of what you have written Paul, however one issue I would take is that I don’t see this as a bubble that will eventually deflate any time soon.
The possibility of Google, Netflix, Disney etc entering the pay for football market is very real. However, it will only serve to further inflate the fees commanded by the EPL. Sky may be the big loser as it fails to deal with this threat, but the EPL will continue with the preverbal snout in the trough.
Another reality is that your article doesn’t deal with the very real problem of the anglicisation of the Scottish supporter base.
Sportscene for example, serves up inferior production values, due to the BBC starving the product of money in comparison to MOTD, with graphics 3 years or so behind MOTD. Michael Stewart has at least provided some decent level of punditry to the show, but it still light years behind MOTD in production values. This doesn’t even begin to touch upon the £70 million a year that the BBC pays the EPL, whilst paying us two bob and a quenchy cup.
With this situation we will find that some people enjoy MOTD more than Sportscene which appears 3rd class in comparison. If we want to protect our national sport, MOTD should be banned. Sportscene certainly isn’t screened in England.
Another issue we need to address is stadium occupancy. As Richard Scudamore mentioned, occupancy of football grounds is critical for their product, and they had 95% occupancy last year. What is our occupancy rate? 30% The product looks awful on TV, something which the corner shop mentality of boardrooms up and down the country fail to see. Seeing players celebrating a goal in front of an empty stand looks terrible.
We have to stop this by redefining season tickets. Close off the top of the stands until the bottom 10-20 rows are full. Fill the first 3-4 rows with stand-long banners so the fans have a decent view. Make season tickets no guarantee of a seat, but just admission, which in turn would make the singers all congregate together, supporter clubs congregate together, buses congregate together. If we want a better broadcasting deal, the likes of Killie etc have to manage their fans and atmosphere better to make it look sexier.
We’ll be saying the same thing in ten years of course, as as uyou mentioned, half of the administrators don’t carer as long as they get a blazer and a UEFA dinner dance invite
… …
Clink\o/
breakfast el born http://www.tallerdetapas.com/esp/argenteria/index.html
best swegger shop in world http://www.bubo.es
charming cheese n wine cool wee bar next door http://www.formatgerialaseu.com/
late night drinks http://www.javierdelasmuelas.com/cas/dry/barcelona/dry-martini-v2
can’t make an omlette http://www.leggs.es/
michelin prices in Barcelona are affordable so DO NOT MISS http://cincsentits.com/en/
Keeping The Faith
15:37 on
13 February, 2015
Nice one Trad88, I’m actually surprised hearts weren’t even bigger pre season.
I do recall Ladbrokes offering money back on losing bets if sevco went (and I’m not making this up) unbeaten in league this season!
Hahaha
=============
Haha – PP were still offering ‘Rangers – multiple trophies’ bet up until Raith put them out the Scottish Cup!
Given that the only two trophies they could win at the time were the Scottish Cup(in which they’d have to beat us, Dundee Utd etc) and the Championship(in which they had a 16pt deficit at the time) the combined odds of winning both were actually lower than 1,000,000/1 :)
HH
Frannyb
13 league yins I think.
clink\o/
14:32 on 13 February, 2015
My favourite place for food is St Joseps market, half way down la Ramblas, right hand side, walking towards the sea.
Breakfast or lunch is an experience, full of locals enjoying a covered market yet the food is exceptionally fresh.
The wine is buttons too.
P
14 mins and the first bottle of Bitburger gets the message.
Another working week over.
P
clink\o/
my post to you is awaiting moderation ! will try something again then must run mail me later
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Vi47EFEI_FI
Bobby Murdoch
HH
NegAnon2
13:50 on 13 February, 2015
On the one hand I find nationalists unwillingness to accept the result of the referendum (despite of course saying they do accept the red,t while clearly not) both disturbing and somewhat depressing at he same time.mdemocracy in Scotland appears to be optional to some.
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you cannot unthink an idea. As 66% people agree
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/state-of-the-nation.26263058
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But I also find the cognitive dissonance heartwarming ly amusing too. We have more chance of influencing things like the sky deal as part of the UK than separately. But that’s too inconvenient a truth I guess.
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If that was the case we wouldn’t be in this position. Two decades on and we’re still the poor relations of the EPL despite Scots pumping billions of pounds into the coffers of Sky. If you think that’s goof value for Scots then fair enough. It explains why you’re a British unionist and have no evidence to back up your claim – as its not true.
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Hilariously had we voted for independence our economy would be in meltdown with the oil price collapse driving a stake through the SNPs so called economic policy. Funny how wee Nicola is steering clear of that point.
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I refer facts not soundbites – Project fear finished on the 19/9.
http://wingsoverscotland.com/how-numbers-work/
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You would be best served working to get the answers to why scotland didn’t vote for independence than simply slagging off those who voted no. Don’t you think?
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I’ll be the best judge of that.
There are lots of reasons why people voted to be dependant – many succumbed to Project Fear or remained wilfully misinformed (I’m all right jack, what foodbanks? I always vote Labour etc). I’m sure there are a few more categories but that’s covers 70%.
The bottom line is, until Scotland’s government has autonomy to negotiate with broadcasters on her own terms, we will never get a deal which maximises value to the clubs. the BBC pay more to Gary L tax free bank account than to the whole of Scottish football. Its a joke. We are a joke. We do not even factor into the equation at the moment.
All of the evidence since Sky came into the market has confirmed this and nothing will change until we control broadcasting and stop acting like a nation of domesticated pets, grateful for any wee scraps that fall from Westminster’s table. it’s pathetic and degrading and we need to grow up.
The Labour/Tory party threatened to stop us from using our own currency and told us they would establish border guards between Scotland and England if we became independent and yet, somehow, you believe they will raise a finger to help us or our football teams get a better deal ? Are you joking? I’m sorry but the cognitive dissonance is yours my friend.
Vote for BNP!!!
Hamiltontim
15:35 on
13 February, 2015
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Like you, I think opposition fans can stir our fans into action,however if additional AFC fans give them any help, then we have to remember they are our biggest threat therefore to minimise any advantage to them is fair game.
Plus if it annoys McInnes then even better.
Up the Dons!!
Right up them!!
roy croppie
15:51 on 13 February, 2015
Hail Hail to you, Croppie Bhoy……a yrie Celt ……that was a wonderful Bobby Murdoch tribute ….brought back many memories, and a wee tear…!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The good news is, according to the BBC bulletin, that binge drinking figures are down.
The bad news is that they’ll be back up again after this weekend!
i would let 7000 followers of the sheep in.
then i would promite the game as “our biggest rivals”.
Yrie = true ….hahahahahahahahahahahahaha
1800 dons fans singing songs about child abuse for 90 mins is 1800 too many!, gie them nowt!!.
Hail hail everyone.