Because Comcast "owns" pay TV customers and 2 free-to-air broadcast networks. Comcast knows that the Premier League will reject beIN Sports USA's bid if beIN Sports USA did not pre-negotiate a deal with a bigger network in order to guarantee broad distribution of the "big" matches. Again, the deal announced last weekend for Comcast to handle "advertising and marketing" of the 2012 French Super Cup is a "tell" that Comcast is making a move to attach itself to the Emir of Qatar. By being "friendly" with the Emir, Comcast can put itself in prime position toscrew its top enemies: NewsCorp (FOX Sports), ESPN Inc., and Univision. Furthermore, Comcast will make money no matter what happens. Remember what beIN Sports USA will need if its bid for the U.S. rights to the English Premier League is to be taken seriously by the Premier League: 1. pay TV distribution for the beIN Sports USA channel(s) with at least one major MSO prior to August 2. guarantee to the Premier League that a certain number of "big" matches will be distributed on a network with full distribution (i.e. at least 80 million households, if not more than 100 million) Because Comcast "owns" the most pay TV customers, it is in a position to exert leverage by demanding a "launch fee" from beIN Sports USA. Comcast can offer to "reduce" the launch fee if the Emir were willing to purchase time to air Barcelona-Real Madrid clasicos on Telemundo, and to air big English Premier League matches on Telemundo and either NBC Sports Network or the NBC broadcast network itself. The "cleverness" of this diabolical plan: Comcast doesn't have to pay for the U.S. media rights to the clasicos or the big EPL matches, yet those matches will end up airing on the networks of NBCUniversal (which is 51% owned by Comcast) instead of on the FOX network, the ESPN networks, or the Univision networks. Furthermore, Comcast will get paid to air those big matches. == This is all a game of leverage, chicken, and "high stakes poker". Every permutation remains in play until it isn't. Every outcome remains possible until it isn't. At this point, the 2012-2013 La Liga season could end up airing in the U.S. on any one of 10 channels owned by 5 different entities. No one knows what will actually happen until it happens, with only one exception: the Emir of Qatar.
It's not that, it's that the market for soccer is worldwide. revenue sharing works in leagues that are an island to themselves or are so far above their competition. If you introduce revenue sharing in Spain, the good players will go to get overpaid in England. or Italy. or Russia.
Well in regards to TV money there are already is a solid revenue sharing plan in place for England, the Bundesliga and Serie A. My memory could be off but I think the difference between Liverpool and Bolton last year was 10 million pounds (50~40). The big wildcard is Champion's League football, which can mean 30 million more and then match day revenues. These two things separate United from Fulham in ambition.
Some kind of revenue sharing must be implemented across euro leagues then. That way, good players will be spread out across all of Europe and individual teams in each league. This will make the product more competitive. Just look at the NFL and the success of revenue sharing. I may be comparing apples to oranges, but if we can adopt good things from the most successful league in the world, then isn't wise to at least consider them?
The English Premier League implements EQUAL revenue sharing for International media rights, which now accounts for over 25% of media rights revenue, and is expected to surpass 50% by 2050 (if not sooner.) La Liga does NOT have any form of revenue sharing, period. Barcelona and Real Madrid account for about 60% of the revenue from media rights, both in Spain and worldwide. == I had proposed that La Liga restructures the Primera Division into two tiers: 1. Clasico Division, so that Barcelona and Real Madrid can play each other 34 times each season, with at least 10 of those matches to be held outside Spain (i.e. Beijing, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Miami, Los Angeles.) Winner would get a spot in the UEFA Champions League, loser would have to enter a playoff. 2. The other 18 teams can play each other twice for 2 UEFA Champions League spots, plus a potential 3rd spot via a playoff against the loser of the clasico division for a berth in the UEFA Champions League playoff round.
Why would the other teams get only 2 Champion League spots? They should get 4 since the teams are better than the EPL ones.
The rest of La Liga currently gets 1 UEFA CL group stage spot and 1 playoff round spot. By separating Barca and RM into a separate division and forcing either one to be involved in the playoffs, the rest of La Liga will gain 1 UEFA CL group stage spot.
I cant believe that La Liga hasnt listened to and adopted your proposal. I mean someone such as yourself who has a high ranking position in the world, not to mention a corner office in your Moms basement would definitely have a a positive effect on the currently meaningless and unsuccessful Spanish Liga.
Corolla, Please stop following up Huhe's posts with these annoying personal attacks on him in multiple threads. If you disagree with what he writes, disagree with the issue, but don't make it personal.
I think you need to speak to the guy who ruins EVERY thread on here with the same bullshit over and over again. Im not in the minority here as many people are tired of Ollie want a cracker chirping the same story over and over again!
If you don't like him or what he's saying, ignore him or deal with the issue. Don't make it about him.
Man, this topic has turned into a boxing match. I really think the Arabs might sublicense some the games, even RM/Barca to ESPN or FOX. I can't see NBC putting the game on big NBC or Telemundo because they rather air some celebrity golf competition than some good soccer If FOX gets the game, they'll put it on FX or FOX Sports 1, simple as that...
I know you're half-kidding, but celebrity golf is cheap, gets decent ratings, and is often taped weeks if not months before it airs.
Ffp is something close to a cap although it remains to be seen how its implemented. And it's not like ours at all. You're right
From what I understood, FFP was less like a hard cap and more like a sliding scale based on your revenue. So the bigger clubs will continue to be allowed to spend more and the smaller clubs will have to spend less. Seems like it makes rapid upward mobility harder - almost a Money League(tm) barrier to entry
Its not a cap, its more like crap. Basically clubs are only allowed to spend what they earn so smaller clubs that have a small fanbase and only receive a small revenue will continue to buy cheap while clubs that have a world wide fan base and access to hundreds of millions of euros from revenue will be able to spend higher. The only way for a small club to overcome this limitation is to buy smart or use homegrown players than achieve the unthinkable and win championships to gain more fans so their revenue increases. As of now already established big dogs love this rule while small clubs that want to be big dogs in the future (even by having billionaire owners) are severely limited. The thing that Europeans do not understand is that Sport is a very different business than all other types. In ever other business it is beneficial to get your competitors to run out of business. In Sport this is not the case because your competitor are opposing teams. If hypothetically a big club were to dominate for years upon years than future generations of fans in that country will only root and support that one team while the other clubs in the league just barely survive with no fan support at all (this is what is exactly happening in Portugal). Like I said this is beneficial in any other type of business but in sport it is not because you need competitors (other clubs) to exist and even thrive some what because without other teams to play you yourself can not make money. If only 1 team were to exist in a league because the others went bankrupt because of low revenue and no fan support than that single team will go bankrupt as well because they would have no one to play against so no games. American sports owners get this
maybe that's what they're counting on to move them towards the European Super League. I know ... red herring. But still how many people do you know that support a Top team in each league as well as a "local" team.
American sports owners understand that a football club should make profits and live within its means. Hence, I am sure that the American owners of EPL clubs welcome FFP. The Bundesliga is basically already in compliance with FFP and Dortmund with a wage bill of 40m euros show that it is possible to outperform a club (bayern) with a 120m euros wage bill for the 2nd season in a row - at least doemstically. Hence I doubt that FFP will change much regarding the predictability of a league. But at least clubs will finally have a chance to stop making a loss year after year.
True but I believe that it would come into play if a team had failed to meet the standards in trying to qualify for Europe. So, if a team pulled a Man City or a Malaga in the past few years they would be unable to participate until they met the criteria.