DIRE predictions that – with Rangers Football Club no longer in the Scottish Premier League, following their recent liquidation – Scottish football could suffer a dramatic reduction in the fees it receives for selling its TV rights have been robustly challenged in an article in today’s Herald newspaper.
In the paper’s sports supplement, Steven Burns carries out an exhaustive comparison of the fees paid by broadcasters to other national football leagues, set against the number of subscribers each of them attract.
He includes, in his analysis, the example of Austria, which – like Scotland – neighbours a far bigger league (for Austria, the Bundesliga; for Scotland, the English Premiership).
And he challenges claims that the football rights for the SPL could collapse from circa £15million a season to £3million.
Last week, the new incarnation of Rangers was denied entry into the SPL by its other members, leaving admission into the Scottish Football League (either the First or the Third Division) their latest option.
Steven Burns is an Asia-based fan of SPL club, St Johnstone, who pens a blog, A Saintee in Asia.
In an accompanyuing panel, Chris Tait considers a TV channel run ‘in-house’, by the Dutch league.
