Leeds Launch Bid to Break Up TV Deal

[Rammy]

Leeds United started legal action against the Football League to attempt to dismantle the collective selling of TV rights and win the right to sell their own games, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The extraordinary and unprecedented move has sent shockwaves across the 72 League clubs who play below Premier League level. The move could destroy a main income stream, the £100million a year they collectively earn from Sky Sports.

Although Leeds's highly controversial owner Massimo Cellino has put a temporary stay on the process, the Mail on Sunday can reveal Leeds's Championship match at home to Middlesbrough on Monday is only going ahead after the Football League was forced to take out a legal injunction against Leeds to make them honour the fixture.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...clubs-100m-television-deal.html#ixzz409bgIGY5

 

[Camdenite]

Notice how the meeting was in Milton Keynes (and no doubt hosted by our own Chief Exec' Andy Cullen)?

Doing our bit for the good of football.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

I find this hilarious considering Cellino campaigned for Collective Bargaining in Italy for years!

 

[WTTJ]

If this were to go through, plus parachute payments, clubs from league one will have no chance. I agree however that Leeds are disrupted more by TV than most and the tv games should be evenly spread

 

[Camdenite]

If this were to go through, plus parachute payments, clubs from league one will have no chance. I agree however that Leeds are disrupted more by TV than most and the tv games should be evenly spread

That isn't the reason he's doing this though.

Leeds would earn a lot more from subscriptions to their own channel or being able to negotiate with broadcasters for rights to their games than they currently receive as part of the collective FL agreement.

Such freedom has effectively ruined Spanish football as a truly competitive league since the 1970's and the same would happen here as its the fact that it's a collective agreement that keeps everything (reasonably) balanced.

 

[BigDaveCUFC]

Its going to be interesting as I can see Man Utd trying to destroy the Top flight deal in a couple of years time.

Now that the money is that high it in effect means the 'other ranks' can afford to keep their top stars and makes it tougher to create a gap, it will make more sense for them clubs to want a more self earning set-up

I do not think they were bothered when they dominated anyway, but now they struggle to compete I'd imagine they want goalposts changed.

While I disagree with it, I can understand the leeds position also they would earn a hell of a lot more money than anyone else below the premiership (and afew in prem) if they had own deal.

 

[Nuttall]

Surely something like this would have to go ballot, i assume 90% of clubs would vote against it, only the bigger clubs would fancy this kind of deal and tbh i don't even think many of them would make anything like the same amount of money out of it as they do now. Also i don't think the fans would like it, as much as people complain about Sky, if the broadcasting was broken up you wouldn't be able to watch anyone except your own team without subscribing to other clubs aswell, it would end up costing the end user alot more to watch less football. Just can't see Leeds getting anywhere with this

 

[Indian Dan]

Sky / BT should stop showing Leeds home games entirely. That'd shut the fucker up.

 

[QPR_Matt]

That isn't the reason he's doing this though.

Leeds would earn a lot more from subscriptions to their own channel or being able to negotiate with broadcasters for rights to their games than they currently receive as part of the collective FL agreement.

Such freedom has effectively ruined Spanish football as a truly competitive league since the 1970's and the same would happen here as its the fact that it's a collective agreement that keeps everything (reasonably) balanced.

The reason why they (Premiership) gets so much money is because it is so competitive throughout. I dont have figures to back anything up, but I would have thought the prem gets such a high following due to this. Break that up, then as you say, it means the best will get better and then no one would ever compete. If that happens, I would have thought that the appeal of watching the bigger prem teams will drop due to the ease of that and the league in general.

 

[Indian Dan]

I think L1 clubs only get £10,000 when live on TV. Sure I read that somewhere.

 

[old parkender]

I think L1 clubs only get £10,000 when live on TV. Sure I read that somewhere.

A fucking pittance all things considered

 

[Indian Dan]

Get 500 less fans turning up and clubs lose money. May be wrong about that £10,000, though

 

[M Dogg]

I don't understand it as a business model.

At the moment £100m is spread across 72 league clubs. Obviously that is weighted towards the 'top' football league clubs who are on all the time. Let's say Leeds make around £2m a year from this.

If they went private, which company is going to pay anything like that for it? There won't be the demand, because no one will subscribe and pay £30 a month or whatever to a new provider and leave Sky, just because they are showing more Leeds matches. If it was Man Utd, Arsenal etc they could justify it as people would do it, but not for a Championship club, no matter how big they are.

Doesn't make sense, will never work.

 

[MagpieBee]

Get 500 less fans turning up and clubs lose money. May be wrong about that £10,000, though

The £10k is in addition to a flat fee that all clubs get (though it is different between each league). The £10k is only meant to compensate for losing some home gates, not be an additional profit. All in all all clubs benefit massively from the TV deals.