PREM bosses have been warned they face a potential £1.5BILLION blow in the next round of TV deals.
The stark message has been relayed in a series of meetings with cash-strapped broadcasters.
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Prem clubs could lose £1.5BILLION in TV moneyCredit: AP:Associated Press
And with clubs still trying to work out how much of the £760million already paid for this season’s final quarter might be demanded back, it adds to the seriousness of the talks around the virtual boardroom table this morning.
Although the decision on whether to resume the campaign on June 12 will not be subject to a formal vote today, there is likely to be animosity between some club chiefs.
Watford chief executive Scott Duxbury joined his counterparts at Brighton and Aston Villa in publicly arguing against plans to play the 92 remaining Prem games at neutral venues.
The current three-year TV deal, which began in August, is worth around £9bn, with around half of the money coming from the domestic contracts, primarily with Sky and BT Sport but also Amazon, BBC and radio stations like talkSPORT.
The two TV giants have let viewers put their subscriptions on hold during lockdown, putting them under financial strain.
And while there is an acceptance the Prem was not responsible for the crisis, the clubs have been put on alert that the money taps are almost certain to be switched off.
That would see a huge impact on the amount clubs could afford to pay players.
It all adds up to a major test for chief executive Richard Masters, who is trying to hold together a league that is riven in two over the restart issue.
With clubs split over the concept of playing games in neutral venues — although it is accepted that matches will be played behind closed doors for the foreseeable future — it is not expected there will be many concrete decisions.
Instead, the decisive meeting to confirm plans to begin full contact training and a proposed restart of the League on June 12 is now being scheduled for next Monday.
Today’s meeting needs to end with an agreed set of medical protocols that can be put to the Prem players.
Even then, a formal adoption vote will not be taken until after the clubs have received feedback.
But clubs are expected to confirm temporary contract extensions for players whose deals run on June 30.
That would also apply to players on loan from other top-flight clubs, with the “owner” teams having to agree to the longer stay.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
