Premier League TV deal delay justified as European leagues face financial crisis amid dwindling rights offers

PREMIER LEAGUE chiefs’ decision to put their next TV rights deal process on hold is justified by the financial chaos hitting European rivals.

Italy’s Serie A clubs today vote on whether to accept the ‘winning’ £745million-per-season bid by DAZN for the next three-year deal.

Premier League chiefs’ decision to delay their next TV rights deal process appears justified by the chaos in Europe’s other ‘Big Five’ divisionsCredit: Getty Images – Getty

DAZN outbid Sky Italia by £87m but offered £117m per season LESS than the current deal – and £250m below the auction reserve price.

Serie A is also facing the potential scrapping of the £1.5billion deal with private equity company CVC struck in November.

The crisis comes with French Ligue 1 bosses forced into a cut-price deal with Canal+, knocking a third off estimated incomes this season, after terminating their new £1bn annual deal with Mediapro.

In Spain, LaLiga chief Javier Tebas anticipates the 20 clubs will lose £1.6bn as a direct cost of the pandemic.

Germany’s next four-year Bundesliga deal with Sky and DAZN dropped by £50m per season.

Premier League clubs accepted the argument that going to market now risked a reduction in the rights, valued at £1.6bn per season in the three-year deal that runs out next term.

The hope is that a vaccine-led recovery will help transform the landscape when the tender document is published.

That is expected to now be towards the end of the year.

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SUMMER SHOWPIECE FEAR

UEFA and the IOC have pushed back final calls on their summer showpieces to April.

While the governing bodies are committed to making sure both the delayed Euro 2020 and Tokyo Olympics go ahead, initial promises of decisions next month have been put on hold.

IOC chiefs are ready to place strict regulations on all Olympic athletes, officials and media in the Japanese capital.

Uefa remains under pressure to remodel its tournament — currently still scheduled to take place in 12 countries across the continent.

But a verdict may wait until its annual congress, due to be held in Montreux on April 20.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk