Aberdeen have countered comments made by Rangers managing director Stewart Robertson last week, refuting the idea that European teams such as Malmo are getting far more in prize money than the Ibrox outfit.
Robertson told The Rangers Review when asked about the well-reported Sky Sports TV deal: “The one that really stuck with me was Malmo. Their TV deal was more than double the Scottish TV deal. You sit with Ajax and Napoli and they are all receiving far more from their TV and sponsorship deals and their league commercial deals as a whole. It put Scottish clubs at a disadvantage when you are playing other European clubs because you know they are all taking bigger sums out of their leagues and TV deals than we can.”
The Dons believe that when you look at the deal on the table, Scottish football is getting far better value than other leagues, as the clubs are not selling the entire schedule of matches, only between 60 and 80 fixtures, on the proposed new terms.
In a statement tonight, Dons chairman Dave Cormack said: “Our game has some real challenges that we must address but the almost unilateral criticism of this potential Sky deal as soon as it was leaked, devoid of all the facts and any context, doesn’t help.
“It was recently reported that Sweden is getting £48 million a season versus the current SPFL deal of about £25 million. These reports state that Malmo gets double what Rangers got for last season’s second place finish. The reality is that Sweden has sold all 240 top league games per season to live television. The SPFL currently sells only 48. All of Malmo’s home games are live on television. SPFL premiership clubs are committed to only four (soon to be five) live television games at home.
“The SPFL’s current, proposed, and potential broadcasting deals of up to £38 million per season shows a significantly higher value per game the SPFL is getting against comparable countries. More than double that of Holland, Belgium, Sweden, and Denmark; and in the case of Norway almost four times more.
“This begs the question; would SPFL premiership clubs be willing to provide every home game live in order to get the total value of any broadcasting deal much, much higher? The simple answer is no. Most clubs don’t have the appetite to provide anything like 19 home league games live on television. Why? Because it would cannibalise season ticket sales, gate income, hospitality, and retail sales, never mind dramatically impacting on the atmosphere at our games.”
It comes ahead of crucial talks between Scottish Premiership clubs on Tuesday, which Celtic will take part in. Described as ‘crisis talks’ by The Scottish Daily Mail, the SPFL are seeking consensus from member clubs on an 11-1 basis to push through the reported Sky deal.
It’s said by the paper that Rangers and Livingston have both shown opposition to plans tabled by the SPFL board to date, meaning everything remains in the balance.
Celtic appear in favour of the new deal, which could be worth more than £120m to Scottish clubs over a four-year period.
Nothing ever seems to be straightforward with dealings like this is in Scottish football, so we await the outcome of Tuesday and any reports with intrigue.
In other news, How Celtic’s big 2021 exits are faring one year on.
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