For a long time now, the English Premier league has been bankrolled by Bskyb's billions, and the influx of money seems to have no bounds.
Just recently, almost sickening figures have been released. Chelsea, the Premier League champions, received £152.8m. Even Sunderland, who finished dead last, were in receipt of £99.9m. So how is it concievable that the miniscule TV dealings of what has become a footballing backwater could greatly effect the richest league in the world?
Well... actually, it's very possible. BSkyB posted profits of a little over £1bn. There are approximately 1 million scottish Sky subscribers. and 500000 with sky sports. Let's assume each of them are forking out £40 a month on their sky packages.
Now let's assume that BT have bought the entire SPFL package. Leaving only half of the 500000 with any sort of vested interest in English football. 250,000 Scottish football fans change provider. That's £10m a month. £120m a year. A shade under 11% of their annual profit. That's almost 800% more than the 16m they pay to broadcast SPFL games a year.
Then there's sky's broadband package. their most basic comes in at £18.99 p/m. Let's say 50% of the 250000 use sky broadband and also change provider. That's 28.5m a year.
Now, this is a very vague and conservative calculation, but that would account for 119m of Sky's profit. Not to mention bars up and down the land cancelling their subscriptions, and with lower viewership, sponsorship of Premier league and other sports events will also plummet. Advertising would seem less appealing too.
Sky's coverage of the scottish game is at its lowest ebb. Celtic's title triumph was cut off as Scott Brown lifted the trophy aloft - it was the starter. The main course? The mouthwatering fixture of Watford v Man City.
The figures don't add up. It's time for scottish football to get a fair slice of the pie.
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