Liverpool FC Forum

by **account deleted by request** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 4:13 am

Real swell coffers for team rebuilding with £543m television deal
By Nick Harris
Published: 16 November 2006
Real Madrid are on the verge of signing a £543m television deal that will be "the most important contract in the history of world sport", according to the club's president, Ramon Calderon. "The deal guarantees us €800m over seven seasons and will be signed in the next few days," a club spokesman said.

The contract, for domestic games, will not be worth as much per year as Barcelona's next TV deal - a five-year package due to start in 2008 worth £81.4m a year - but Real's contract will be the most valuable overall.

Spanish clubs are allowed to negotiate individual deals with broadcasters, hence Real and Barcelona's ability to secure huge sums. That is not the case in England, where clubs negotiate collectively. The biggest earners in the Premiership last season from domestic TV alone were Manchester United (£30.65m), followed by Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal. Earnings vary depending on finishing position and the number of times each club's games are screened live.

However, the collective deal in the Premiership means that the income differential from television is relatively small between the top and bottom clubs, with the champions earning perhaps twice as much as the bottom side. In countries where clubs do individual deals, notably Italy and now Spain, the domestic TV earnings of the biggest clubs can outstrip the smallest in their division by 25 to one.

Real have not yet disclosed the name of company buying their rights, or when the new deal will start. Their rights are currently owned by the pay-TV firm Sogecable, which also holds the rights for most of La Liga. Sogecable currently pays Real £37.3m a year.

However, the publicly owned television station Telemadrid said earlier this month that it was going to bid for Real's rights and reports in Spain yesterday suggested that Telemadrid, backed by Madrid's regional government and the Caja Madrid bank, were on the brink of doing the deal. Telemadrid is free to air and would need to recoup its outlay via advertising.

* The Real Madrid president, Ramon Calderon, remains hopeful David Beckham will stay at the club. "We have offered a contract extension to Beckham... He represents the claw, the spirit of the club. I would like him to continue here."

The world's best TV deals

Barcelona £81.4m

Real Madrid £77.54m

Milan £67.82m

Man Utd £30.65m

Chelsea £30.41m

Liverpool £28.83m

Arsenal £28.72m

All earnings are from domestic TV rights only.
---------------------------------

I cant see the big clubs in England being happy seeing the top foreign clubs getting more than double the income from TV. Sooner or later the 4 or 5 top English clubs are going to ask for individual deals. Maybe then we will see some of the lesser Premiership clubs disappearing or perhaps combining with their more illustrious neighbours.

One things for certain if it happens the Premiership will lose charactor as the smaller clubs become less and less able to compete and the lucky few become stronger.(To be honest its already started )

While I am all in favour of more money for Liverpool I dont want the EPL to become even more biased towards the top few clubs with the rest just there to make up the numbers.

by **jkop** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 11:07 am

I agree smaller clubs will never be able to compete if the larger clubs are raking in more money. And anyway who wants to watch Real Madrid they've won feck all.

by **Big Niall** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 2:38 pm

Real Madrid have joke players like Beckham (when he is not trying to be a hollywood celeb) and thankfully Capello knows football and that Beckhams place is on the bench and the billboards.

I liked them as a kid - Hugo Sanchez at his prime but now I cheer against them - a club that represents all that is wrong in football (fame before ability)

Liverpool FC Forum

Real to sign huge tv deal - Premiership next?

Who is online