Skip to main content

FA Cup to go free to air

The FA Cup is to go free to air for the first time since the 1980s with ITV close to joining the BBC as rights holders. In March the BBC won the right to broadcast up to 18 live FA Cup matches a season, in addition to highlights. ITV is set to gain a larger package of 30 games as the senior partner. It will share coverage of the FA Cup final from the 2021-22 season for the first time since 1988.

The package which ITV is understood to have bid successfully for is held by BT Sport, which has shared the rights with the BBC since 2014. ITV has not held the rights since then when a six year shared coverage arrangement came to an end.

For the FA, it's a question of funding versus coverage in making the choice between subscription and free to air television. Viewing figures on the BBC have been impressive since the early rounds of the competition. 7.5 million watched Manchester United's fourth round win over Arsenal. BT Sports could only get 2.7 and 2.4 million respectively for the Champions League semi-final victories of Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.

My personal impression is that BT Sport is limping along. Friends who have Sky resent paying more for extra games. I live in a conservation area and the local Council bans Sky dishes, but I don't have BT sport even though I am a BT customer. One or two people get round the dishes ban by having large arrays in their back gardens which look as if they could contact the international space station.

The FA now has to turn to finding a new naming rights sponsor for the FA Cup as Emirates Airlines is not renewing its contract. The free to air deal could help as it offers scope for better global coverage.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Threat of financial calamity removed from Baggies

West Bromwich Albion had effectively been in decline ever since the club was sold to a Chinese consortium in August 2016, paying a figure north of £200m to buy former owner Jeremy Peace’s stake. Controlling shareholder Guochuan Lai’s ownership was fairly disastrous for the club, but his unloved tenure finally came to an end after Bilkul Football WBA, a company ultimately owned by Florida-based entrepreneur Shilen Patel and his father Dr Kiran Patel, acquired an 87.8% shareholding in West Bromwich Albion Group Limited, the parent company of West Bromwich Albion Football Club. This change in ownership was urgently required, due to the numerous financial problems facing West Brom, including growing high-interest debt and serious cash flow concerns, following years of no investment from the former owner. Indeed, West Brom’s auditors had already rung the alarm bell in the 2021/22 accounts when they cast doubt on the club’s ability to continue as a going concern without making player s...
1 comment
Read more

Gold standard ground boosts Tottenham's income

The gold standard in European football grounds is the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in north London, a £1bn construction project completed in 2019. Its impact on the club’s finances has become increasingly clear as the effects of the pandemic have faded. Previously, the average fan would spend less than £2 inside the ground on a typical match day, but now that figure is about £16, thanks to new facilities including the longest bar in Europe and an on-site microbrewery. Capacity has gone up from 36,000 at the club’s previous home of White Hart Lane to 62,000.  The new stadium — built on land adjacent to White Hart Lane — has opened the door to a broad range of other events that have helped to push commercial income up from €117mn in 2018 to €215mn in 2022. Last year, Tottenham hosted US singer Beyoncé for five nights on her global Renaissance tour, two NFL matches, as well as rugby games and heavyweight boxing bouts.  Money brought in from football has gone up too. Match day ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Spurs to sell minority stake

Tottenham Hotspur is in talks to sell a minority stake in a deal that could value it at up to £3.75 billion and pave the way for Joe Lewis and his family to sever ties with the Premier League football club. Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy is seeking an investment that values the club at between £3.5 billion and £3.75 billion, including debt. While the terms of any deal have not been finalised, City sources expect Spurs to sell about 10 per cent. The club is being advised by bankers from Rothschild on the sale. Tottenham wants to raise fresh capital for new player signings and to help fund the development of an academy for its women’s team, as well as a 30-storey hotel next to its north London stadium. The financier Amanda Staveley, who brokered the deal for Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to take over Newcastle United, is understood to be among the parties to have expressed an interest in Tottenham. Staveley’s fund, PCP Capital Partners, has raised about £500 million to ...
Post a Comment
Read more