The news about Viaplay pulling out of the UK market over time has certainly generated a fair amount of headlines today. Suggestions of chaos and upheaval have emerged, so it’s worth digging into what the news means, how much money we are talking about in terms of Scottish football and whether Celtic or indeed any club should be concerned right now.
Viaplay, as you’ll know, are the broadcasters for Scottish League Cup and Scottish Cup competitions – also serving as the main competition sponsors for the League Cup. The Nordic outfit bought these rights from Premier Sport, with rebrandings occurring last season.
In terms of prize money, for Celtic, that means around £1m a season can be earned from the broadcaster’s commercial investment. Last season, the Bhoys brought in around £350,000 for winning the League Cup and around £609,000 from the Scottish Cup.
In total, it’s been reported by The Daily Record that Viaplay pay Scottish clubs around £2.5m per season. And the reason why nobody at the SPFL or within clubs will be panicking too much is because they’re said to have already received that income for this coming season’s competitions.
A source told the paper: “If these were serious solvency issues then it’s highly unlikely the fee for next season would already have been paid up in full as it has been in the last few weeks. In that respect, there is no immediate reason for concern where the ongoing Viaplay deal is concerned.”
It’s also stated that the SPFL have secured legal guarantees about future fees being guaranteed for the full length of their contract until 2027.
So, this isn’t a situation where a large tranche of cash is immediately lost from Celtic or Scottish football. Teams up and down the league can continue to budget as normal.
Long term, of course, it means the SPFL and Scottish FA will need to seek alternative broadcasters to buy up rights packages, but it seems there is at least plenty of time to do that.
Viaplay’s relationship with Scottish football looks to have been short-lived, but it at least doesn’t seem to have been harmful.
In other news, Celtic’s next transfer priority is clear after first wave of signings.
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