English Premier League (EPL)
Features
The Premier League waits for sun to shine on chilly UK media market
The Premier League usually auctions its domestic media rights halfway through its three-season cycle, but Covid has uprooted its plans. Callum McCarthy examines the likely bidders and the league's hopes for an uplift in the value of the rights.
‘It’s attracted partners and investors’ | Leeds United’s Amazon documentary
Take Us Home: Leeds United has spent two years documenting the club's attempts to return to the Premier League. Chief executive Angus Kinnear tells Adam Nelson how the series has helped to attract sponsors and investors as well as engage new fans.
Norwich City’s financial model provides stability despite Premier League relegation
Ben Kensell, chief operating officer at Norwich City, tells Adam Nelson about how the commercial structure he has put in place offers the club a platform to bounce straight back after its relegation from the Premier League.
Francis: OTT streaming operators have struggled to provide lockdown service
Barney Francis, the former managing director of the UK division of Sky Sports, has suggested the Covid-19 crisis has exposed the business models of some of the OTT streaming services operating in the sports sector but says there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the industry. Ben Cronin reports.
George Cullen | The voice of the athlete has changed forever – and it’s never been so important
George Cullen, account manager at Hill + Knowlton Strategies, applauds a dramatic shift in the influence of sports people to affect social change – with implications for brands and rights-holders
All Premier League matches to be televised in UK until fans return
The English Premier League will continue to make all its matches in the 2020-21 season available for broadcast in the UK until supporters are permitted back into stadiums
Genius Sports sues Sportradar in latest twist in Premier League data rights dispute
Betting data services company Genius Sports has sued rival data company Sportradar in the UK High Court in the latest twist to the companies’ ongoing legal dispute about the data rights to the English P…
All Premier League matches to continue to be shown in UK until end of February
The English Premier League will continue to make available all its matches for broadcast in the UK until at least the last weekend of February
PP Sports ‘countersues Premier League over collapsed deal’
Chinese streaming platform PP Sports is following through on a threat last year to sue the English Premier League over their collapsed media rights deal, according to a report in the Financial Times
Falling transfer fees to be a marker for football’s post-Covid-19 austerity era
Omar Chaudhuri, chief intelligence officer at 21st Club, reflects on how the transfer market will change and impact clubs of all sizes during and after the Covid-19 crisis
A ticketing conundrum in the post-Covid world
Nick White, partner at Charles Russell Speechlys, discusses the implications and impacts of the Covid-19 hiatus on ticketing.
‘Some clubs will really struggle’ | Tifosy CEO Fausto Zanetton on surviving the shutdown
Fausto Zanetton, chief executive of Tifosy Capital & Advisory, discusses why player salaries have become such a burning issue for clubs, the knock-on affects of France’s media rights cycle, and the potential long-term impacts of the shutdown.
Wolves turns to Ipsos’ retail monitoring to understand the customer journey
Why Premier League side Wolves has engaged Ipsos Retail Performance's footfall-counting technology in its club megastore.
As global piracy starts to bite, Asian solutions need cooperation and government
Surveys show that public attitudes to content piracy are positive and ingrained in Southeast Asia. Kelvin Tan asks broadcasters and rights-holders what can be done to head off a growing problem.
DAZN’s ‘logical’ interest in UK launch is hard to square with commercial realities
Rumours are swirling around DAZN's potential interest in a UK launch, but market conditions must be perfect for profitability to be a realistic goal. Callum McCarthy reports on the possibility of the streaming service getting off the ground in the country where it is based.
Liverpool v New Balance: six things we learned
Liverpool FC’s legal dispute with New Balance has provided unprecedented insights into the minutiae of a modern Premier League kit supplier agreement. Ben Cronin looks at some of the details from the case and examines what they say about the club and the brands involved.
Q&A | Chrissy Fice, brand director, Vitality UK
Health insurance provider Vitality has developed a reputation for promoting participation and inclusivity in sport through its extensive sports sponsorship portfolio. Chrissy Fice, brand director for Vitality UK, explains the company’s sponsorship strategy.
Deal or no deal: what motivates an investor to buy a failing football club?
The allure of promotion and Premier League success has led many an English football team into financial ruin, but liquidations remain rare. With so many rescued from oblivion over the past decade, Callum McCarthy examines why so many see opportunity in struggling football clubs.
Can data be classed as IP? Sportradar and Genius want to find out
Sportradar contends that Genius Sport's exclusive supplier deal with Football DataCo, the data rights-holder for the English Premier League, EFL and Scottish Football League is anti-competitive. Ben Cronin examines the dispute and asks what it means for the way rights-holders tender their data contracts.
Sportradar and Genius dispute will influence future data deals
Is sports data 'ownable' and can it be treated to same protections from piracy as sports media rights? Ben Cronin thinks the dispute between Sportradar and Genius Sports will influence the way the US major leagues take their data rights to market
Sky looking to the future with YouTube Premier League highlights
SportBusiness talks to YouTube’s head of sport EMEA, Tomos Grace about Sky Sports' recent decision to make Premier League match highlights available on YouTube.
LaLiga and Bundesliga aim to make inroads on Premier League’s Asian dominance
The Premier League has long been the top international football league in Asia. As the 2019-20 season begins, SportBusiness Asia spoke to the Asian offices of Spain’s LaLiga and Germany’s Bundesliga about their work to challenge the English league’s position.
Crystal Palace aims to become sponsors’ “club of choice in London”
South London football club Crystal Palace is a model for aspirational second-tier teams. The club's commercial director, Barry Webber, tells Adam Nelson how a nimble and flexible commercial strategy has helped the club to capitalise on its top-flight status.
9 revenue-generating features at the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Wi-Fi network and Bluetooth beacons capture crowd movements
Catering JV to offer more food and beverage options and speedier service
Liverpool diversifies revenue streams to post record profit
Liverpool FC's Billy Hogan tells SportBusiness Professional how diversifying revenue streams and engaging with the club's global fanbase helped the club toward posting world-record profits and doubling its commercial revenue.
Arsenal’s Singapore office contributes to 50-per-cent growth of commercial revenues
APAC contains biggest proportion of Arsenal’s global fanbase at 30 per cent.
Since opening Singapore office, 85 per cent of all club’s sponsorships now come from outside Europe.
Premier League | Plans under way for OTT platform for next rights cycle
• League has brought in consultants Alvarez & Marsal to advise on OTT platform
• New distribution strategy will be in place for the next rights cycle, from 2022-23 season
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The Scudamore years | The search for a successor
The Premier League has expanded at such a precipitous rate under Richard Scudamore’s leadership that most experts seem to agree that it will need to appoint more than one person to replace the outgoing c…