THE new overseas broadcasting deal that the SPFL have struck will ensure their member clubs are not left over £4 million out of pocket in the next two seasons due to the financial difficulties of their former distribution rights partner MP & Silva.
The SPFL announced yesterday that it has reached an agreement with Qatar-based beIN SPORTS to show its matches in Australia and New Zealand as well as 24 countries in the Middle East and North Africa until 2020.
The deal comes after ties with MP & Silva, the stricken global sports agency who had failed to make scheduled payments of around £1.3 million, were severed back in August.
Leagues around Europe, including the Premier League in England, Bundesliga in Germany and Serie A in Italy, have been forced to renegotiate overseas broadcasting deals as a result of the problems the Chinese-owned company has encountered.
Martin Ross of the sports business website SportCal believes the new contract with beIN SPORTS, who held the international broadcasting rights up until the end of last season, will be worth less than the SPFL could have expected before.
“Last year MP & Silva paid the SPFL close to £2.4 million for the rights outside of the EU,” said Ross.
“MP & Silva missed a payment of just over £100,000 at the end of last season. A payment of £1.2 million was due at the beginning of August and that was missed. The SPFL terminated the deal after that happened.
“To get this money back the SPFL have to strike these renewal deals on similar terms. The difficulty is that in situations like this you have agencies and broadcasters who will low ball them and try and take advantage of the situation.
“This has happened in leagues across Europe, not just the SPFL. For example, the Bundesliga in Germany had a deal with MP & Silva that was worth €40 million a year. It ended up ripping up the deal for the same reason that the SPFL did.
“They are doing the deal themselves now and anticipate a loss of around €10 million a year. The Premier League are the same with their rights in Asia. The broadcasters try to take advantage of the situation and offer less than they were going to offer.”
Ross added: “The SPFL will be doing very, very well to get in what they had before. They will be sure they can bring in the same amount as they were due from MP & Silva which was just over £2 million, but it will be a challenge.
“There was a negligible shortfall last season given what happened with MP & Silva. Whether there is a shortfall this season depends on how good a job the SPFL, Neil (chief executive Doncaster) and Infront (the agency that replaced MP & Silva) are at persuading broadcasters to pay what they were going to pay.
“But they were faced with difficult circumstances. It’s hard going to a broadcaster a few weeks into a season and getting them to free up schedule space. That will be reflected in what they pay. They will have an easier time with Infront next season.”
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