Premier League ticket prices to top agenda amid TV rights bonanza

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/feb/04/premier-league-ticket-prices-tv-rights-clive-efford

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The Premier League is to come under renewed pressure on a range of issues, from ticket prices to investment in grassroots sport, once it delivers another expected increase in its multibillion-pound broadcasting deals next week.

MPs, fans’ organisations and pressure groups will step up their lobbying efforts as soon as the outcome of the ongoing auction for live domestic rights is concluded. The current deal raised £1bn a year for Premier League clubs and the new one is expected to surpass that figure.

“I totally respect the Premier League as a successful business that generates an enormous amount of income and brings some of the best players in the world to these shores,” said the shadow sports minister Clive Efford.

“But the way the finances are sucked in perpetuates a culture of greed and far too little of it filters down to develop sport at the grassroots. I think that is something the Premier League needs to consider.”

Efford said it was inevitable that a funding formula that delivers £34m a year to the Football Foundation from the Premier League, the FA and the DCMS to fund grassroots facilities would again come under scrutiny.

The first round of bidding, expected to pitch Sky Sports against BT Sport and the Eurosport owner Discovery, closes . However, the final result may not be known until next week depending on how close the bidding is for the seven packages available.

It is understood that the Premier League has continued to meet privately with various supporter’s groups in private in order to discuss ticket pricing, with particular ongoing disquiet over the amount charged to away fans.

However, the issue will not be on the agenda at Thursday’s meeting of all 20 Premier League clubs because it is felt that it would not be appropriate to discuss how any potential increase might be spent before the auction is concluded.

The Premier League would point to schemes such as Premier League 4 Sport and various programmes introduced by its clubs as evidence of its willingness to boost grassroots sport and engage with communities.

On ticket prices, one option may be to boost further the “away fans’ fund” set up in the wake of a wave of protest sparked by Manchester City supporters’ outrage at the ticket prices charged by Arsenal.

Although the figures – £12m between the 20 clubs over three seasons – were small in the context of the current £5.5bn TV deal it established the principle of using a centralised pool of money to fund fan-friendly initiatives.

The Football Supporters’ Federation has been running a Twenty’s Plenty campaign to try to convince clubs to cap away ticket prices, while an across-the-board price cut is another option that could be on the agenda.

Ticket prices are just one area that will come under scrutiny once the process is concluded. Efford said he would like to see far more money spent on grassroots facilities. “All the indications are that the total income will go up. If all that does is feed huge wages for players, makes more money for agents there is something seriously wrong,” said Efford. “There are all sorts of things we could do in conjunction with the Premier League if they were less greedy.”

Such is the competition between BT and Sky that it is possible that the Premier League’s take from domestic rights alone could top £4bn. Once overseas sales are taken into account, the total is expected to easily top the £5.5bn over three years.

The Premier League would argue that it is more redistributive than any other major league. Once Football League parachute and so-called “solidarity payments” are taken into account, on top of the sums awarded to the Football Foundation and other good causes, it distributes more than a sixth of its overall income outside the top flight.

But critics have long pointed to a deal agreed with the government in 1999, when in return for government assistance in preserving the concept of collective selling the Premier League agreed to give 5% of its broadcasting take to the grassroots.

The Premier League has since argued that the figure should only apply to its domestic TV income and also points to the £1bn-plus tax contribution made by footballers.

Meanwhile, Ofcom has on Wednesday rejected a complaint from Virgin Media that threatened to derail the Premier League auction process.

However, the media regulator reserved the right to take action against the Premier League and broadcasters retrospectively if it subsequently ruled that the auction rules restricted competition or were against the public interest.