Macclesfield are complaining about the way the TV companies are choosing every Utd FA Cup game for live screening(every Utd FA Cup tie since 2005 shown live)and adding to their already bulging bank account and we're probably not far behind in live games shown. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/jan/25/manchester-united-live-fa-cup Gotta feel sorry for the little clubs because the FA Cup should be like the Prem where even the relegated teams get a decent share of the financial pie.
I thought it was fairly common for the bigger clubs to let the smaller clubs have the income? I know this happens with the gate receipts but thought it would with the TV money too?
I can see the argument, but like the article says the TV companies will always choose the matches that draw the biggest audience as live games, and Utd is always one of those games. I agree with you to an extent - I think the prize money should stay as it is to reward clubs who get further, and the TV money distribution should stay as that's usually the smallest component of revenue. I think only five clubs will get £135k each this round so if you split it then it would be peanuts, and clubs who host the games will actually lose out due to the costs of supporting all the TV cameras. Personally I think the solution would be a fairer distribution of gate money across each round. At the moment gate money for each fixture is split around 45% to each club and 10% to the FA, so Utd and Fulham will get around £1.5 million each, whereas Macclesfield and Wigan may only get tens of thousands. Wouldn't be too difficult to pool all the gate money and share it evenly across all clubs, once the home clubs receive their costs. At a rough guess the fourth round ties this year will probably bring in revenue of around £8 million once replays are factored in, so that would mean every club gets almost half a million quid apiece. That gives smaller clubs a much bigger reward for getting this far, and also means clubs like Macclesfield, Brentford and Oldham aren't effectively penalised for having the tie at home. It's also much fairer as the clubs who will lose out are the ones like Utd and Arsenal who make millions from every game.
Fair enough if it is United vs Crawley Town or Liverpool vs Oldham. But Stoke vs Man City is a poor fixture and neither team needs the money.
The gate receipts get split with a proportion going to the FA. Pretty sure the TV money is kept by the home club as at least some of it is used to cover the facilities, insurance, hospitality etc provided to all the journos, pundits etc.
We all support businesses now though don't we PMK? We're consumers not supporters right? Money doesn't just talk....it shouts. I'm not surprised and I'm not having a dig at Utd on this one because as you say we won't be far behind in terms of games shown. I think it's understandable that at least one big game each round is shown but the rest could definitely be split a bit more fairly. I love watching the lower league sides in the cup.
If you go by the rules, yes. But often when its a Man Utd vs Crawley type scenario the bigger club lets the smaller club have their sure too. Obviously no ruling for this but it happens
It may happen, but I can't remember it ever actually happening. Crawley certainly only got the standard 45% of the Utd gate as they only earned around £1 million when a full OT is up to £3 million. Like Billy says, they are all businesses and I can't imagine any large business ever willingly giving up a million quid. It may well happen when it is the smaller club at home - when you played Mansfield the gate was probably only a couple of hundred thousand max, so that's not a big loss, but when the larger club is at home they will grab all the money they can.
