Source: Team_Talk
Ayre blind to Premier League brand
TEAMtalk guest blogger John Baines has his say on Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre's controversial stance on overseas broadcasting rights.[LNB] Ever since the Premier League became the most marketable and money-laden league in the world, the issue of its overseas broadcasting rights has been the elephant in the room.[LNB]It has taken until now for somebody to voice opinion and break from the status quo, with Liverpool's Ian Ayre claiming "the debate has to happen" about whether clubs should negotiate individual overseas broadcasting contracts to get what they deem to be a fair slice of the pie.[LNB]Ayre's comments have certainly sparked a debate but perhaps not in the manner he expected. His views have immediately been seized upon as self-centered, narrow-minded and greedy, which is perhaps somewhat unfair given his role and responsibility to his employers, but the debate which Ayre is trying to instigate has much further deep-lying implications to the rest of the Premier League and English football in general.[LNB]At this juncture, it's possibly worth delving into what TV revenue comes into the Premier League and how that is currently split. The league sells TV rights into domestic and overseas brackets. The domestic pot is 50 per cent equally apportioned between the 20 clubs, with the remaining money being awarded on merit for league placings and 'facility' fees for being on the telly. So, based on last season's figures, each club were given an even sum of just short of £14million, with the rest largely based on prize winning. [LNB]That meant that, of the domestic rights, champions Manchester United earned just over £40million, whilst bottom club Blackpool left with around £25million. To all and sundry, this system seems fair given the initial parity in payments and the rewards of a meritocracy, but the subject up for discussion is the overseas broadcasting rights which are spread differently.[LNB]The overseas package for the negotiated period between 2010-13 is worth approximately £1billion. Last season, each and every club were granted just shy of £18million independent of stature, status or South Korean fanbase and it is this figure that Ayre claims Liverpool and the other box-office teams are due a bigger portion of.[LNB]Manchester United and Chelsea have been quick to distance themselves from the Anfield club's stance, but that may or may not have been little more than political point-scoring, given that it was that unloveable rogue Peter Kenyon who first floated the idea of individual broadcast rights whilst at United at the turn of the millennium.[LNB]Ayre's observations are that Liverpool, United, Arsenal and Chelsea are, between them, by far the most-watched sides and thus have much to do with the volume of revenue coming onto our shores. To a degree, he has a point and as Ayre coined in a somewhat crude analogy, everybody wants to watch the best but not the rest.[LNB]However, the point which Ayre overwhelmingly misses is that the top clubs are so popular because of the brand. The marketing drive of the Premier League far outstrips that of any other world league and as a result, its popularity has boomed since its inception. [LNB]Foreign fans will often roll out the cliches about the atmosphere at English grounds and the intensity and competitiveness of the games as the main attraction of our football, albeit with the hyperbolic Hollywood glitz and glamour of the chosen few. The popularity of English football is not down to an elite ruling class but moreover, a collective pack who all communally create a product which is so watchable around the world. The little clubs may not have much but what they do have is enough for them to be comparatively competitive. If we can shoehorn Blackpool back into the mix, was it not last year's basement boys who did a league double over the mighty Liverpool and brought so much to the party otherwise? The endeavours of those plucky underdogs differentiates leagues.[LNB]Parallels are immediately drawn to the system in La Liga, whereby Barcelona and Real Madrid have a complete duopoly over the whole league. They are the two most marketable sides and indeed sell their own TV rights but as we know, this is to the complete detriment to the rest of the league. There may only have been four different winners of England's top-flight since 1992 and there may only be a small band that have any chance of winning it presently, but in the last two la Liga seasons, the third-place team has finished over 20 points behind second.[LNB]Whether you feel that the top clubs do deserve a greater return from overseas broadcasting rights much depends on if you take an economic or ethical stance. Individual broadcasting rights would be designed to make the rich richer and increase disparity between the haves and the have-nots. Much like Spain's impenetrable top two, more wealth to those who don't need it could see England's top five or six clubs partitioned off from the rest.[LNB]The Premier League is a monolithic organisation fast becoming further detached from the rest of English football but the league and the major institutions within it must recognise their duty of care to the whole sport within this country.[LNB]If you kill off the competition, you kill off what makes the league great, and in that final gambit, there is a hidden analogy about biting the hand that feeds you.[LNB]Follow John on Twitter at @bainesyDiego10 and check out his blog at Blue Menace.
