English Premier League (EPL)
Features
Ben Cronin | Masters needs to come up with football reforms before they are forced upon him
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters is being assailed on multiple fronts as the UK government threatens a systematic review of football governance and clubs plot European competition reform.
Martyn Turze | Premier League PPV – the Publicis Sport & Entertainment ‘office’ debate
Martyn Turze, consumer research account director at Publicis Sport & Entertainment, highlights 11 key points from the agency's internal discussions on pay-per-view Premier League matches conducted via the team’s Whatsapp group.
Championship clubs devastated by UK government’s ‘broad-brush’ approach
Fears of overcrowding in pubs and on public transport has moved the UK government to postpone spectator trials after Covid-19 cases rose sharply in the country, but rights holders and clubs feel sport has been unfairly singled out. Callum McCarthy reports.
Simon Chadwick | Sport feels the strain of East-West political tensions
Simon Chadwick, director of Eurasian Sport at emlyon Business School France/China, outlines the pressures being felt in the sports industry as political tensions ratchet up between China, the West and others.
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.
Rugby main beneficiary as UK government unveils £300m sports support package
A total of 11 UK spectator sports will receive a share of £300m (€335m/$397m) from the UK government to see them through coronavirus restrictions this winter.
Premier League swells in-house TV rights sales team with Gregory, Sherlock hires
The English Premier League has added to its international broadcast rights sales team with the appointments of media sales heads in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and the Americas, SportBusiness…
Premier League clubs reject Project Big Picture, back £50m lower-league aid
Clubs from the English Premier League have rejected the ‘Project Big Picture’ plans put forward by Liverpool and Manchester United and will instead work together on a strategic plan for the future of …
Premier League sues over terminated PPLive rights deal in China
The English Premier League is suing its former Chinese broadcast rights-holder for $215.3m (€183m) over its battle for unpaid rights fees, it has been reported.
‘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.
The year ahead | What to expect from sport in 2020
As the new year begins, figures from across the industry predict the technological innovations, content initiatives and hosting strategies that will be making the news in 2020
The challenge facing the next Premier League chief executive: media-rights growth has stalled
The search to replace Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore, who announced his resignation over a year ago, has proved arduous. Frank Dunne looks at the issues surrounding media-rights growth and the challenges Scudamore's succesor should expect.
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.
Racing and football the likely beneficiaries of TV marketing blackout by UK gambling firms
Drop in advertising against football unlikely to impact media-rights income
Value of shirt and LED inventory could increase
Exemption likely to drive horse racing media-rights 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.
From Man City to Gfinity | Former football chief Garry Cook positions himself as esports emissary
Garry Cook, Manchester City's former chief executive, now works for esports event organiser and content producer Gfinity. Ben Cronin speaks to him ahead of the inaugural ePremier League which will be hosted at Gfinity's esports arena
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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Coca-Cola buys global Premier League rights to push multiple brands in the UK
Coca-Cola GB’s three-and-a-half-year deal with the Premier League is the largest sponsorship deal the UK branch of the company has ever signed and the first it will activate across its entire portfolio. Ben Cronin examines why the brand is partnering with the league and what it means for the Premier League’s multi-sponsor approach.
Super signings: How super clubs monetise superstar athletes
Athletes like LeBron James and Cristiano Ronaldo can move the needle like no others. Bob Williams spoke to a number of industry experts to discover how exactly clubs can monetise their prize possessions.
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…
The Scudamore years: Match attendances and the fan
Richard Scudamore summarised his measures of success for the Premier League in an interview in 2015: “Attendance No1. Global audience No2. That’s it. Ho
The Scudamore years | International expansion and the 39th game
The almost unchecked expansion in overseas media-rights revenues for the Premier League tells its own story about the extraordinary success of the competition as an international export
The Scudamore years | Sponsorship
From a sponsorship perspective, Peter Daire, founding partner at sports rights and marketing agency Sport Collective, thinks Scudamore ought to be remembered more for the partnerships the Premier League r…
The Scudamore years | Media rights sales
Scudamore’s former media advisor Phil Lines argues that his old boss could be directly credited with creating a formal tender process for the selling of the league’s rights and for professionalising the…
Scudamore | The cool-headed diplomat who transformed the EPL
Chief executive surrounded himself with the best advisors to take strategic decisions
Diplomatic skills essential in persuading league owners of the greater power of the collective
Coke Premier League deal sounds like the Real Thing
Only time will tell if the unconfirmed reports of a sponsorship deal between Coca-Cola and the Premier League are premature.
Amazon-Premier League deal shows tech giant still learning
The agreement the Premier League struck in June with Amazon for one of two packages of rights unsold in its January auction – telco BT picked up the other – has to be one of the most important ever.
Going down | Does the Premier League need to rethink its media rights strategy?
The Premier League going down in value? The unthinkable has happened. Frank Dunne investigates what happened, and whether the market is at a pivotal point where an old way of doing business can no longer be relied upon to deliver the necessary premiums.