Massive cash blow for SPL as they lose £17m in new TV deal
AFTER weeks of negotiations a new five-year Sky agreement has been clinched but itâs well short of the millions on offer when Rangers were in the SPL.
THE collapse of Rangers has cost the SPL a massive £17million from one TV
deal alone.
After weeks of negotiations the gameâs top flight finally clinched a new five-year
Sky agreement yesterday but itâs well short of the millions on offer when Rangers were in the SPL.
Last year Sky and the countryâs leading clubs had settled on £80m over five years but the contracts were never signed. And itâs believed the deal will give the SPL only £63m over a similar period.
But from that figure £9m will have to be paid to the SFL over the next three years and then £4m over the remaining two years of the deal.
That, of course, means several SPL clubs are still facing financial hardship.
With Rangers in the Third Division the SFL were able to sell their TV rights to the SPL for just more than £1m a year for the next three years and that fee will have to come out of the new Sky deal.
The SPL must also pay a £2m settlement fee â agreed when the top clubs broke away in 1998 â every year and that, too, will be taken out of the new telly package.
So, with SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster and Celtic chief Peter Lawwell, who led the negotiating team, having agreed a new package worth just less than £13m a year the amount to be spread among the 12 top clubs is actually only around £10m a year for the next three years.
For the remaining two years of the deal the figure will be closer to £11m, although there will be clauses in the new agreement which will allow for an increase should Rangers win promotion every season for the next three.
