Sports Lawyer Richard Cramer has some dramatic predictions for the sport industry
Sports lawyer Richard Cramer believes the Premier League could lose money on broadcasting rights deals if the current coronavirus lockdown continues.
Speaking to the The Sun, Cramer points to a lack of Sky subscriptions potentially causing the company to re-evaluate its huge rights deal with the division. This could also apply to fellow rights holder BT.
The broadcaster currently pays £3.6 billion to show 128 games a season, in a deal that was signed in 2018 and runs from the 2019-20 campaign to 2021-22. BT splashed out £885 million on their agreement to broadcast 32 matches a season for the same period.
Amazon also holds rights to stream 40 games a season, showing the full sets of fixtures from two gameweeks in a new innovation, but is less reliant on sport events to pull in subscriptions.
A managing director for Front Row Legal, Cramer said: “All the money football gets, from sponsorship and broadcasting, is in danger of a huge decline.”
“When we are through this, it’s inevitable there will be an adjusting down. That means broadcasting rights, sponsors, the lot. Wages will drop and the ridiculously high contracts players are on will end.”
“Unless normality returns in a month or two, the shape of football as we know it will change forever. As a consequence, that leads to a massive impact on the whole of sport.”
“Take Sky – if their subscriptions drop, the money suddenly isn’t coming in to the same extent. So the fact they will want to renegotiate the rights deal is a natural follow-on.”
The Premier League, and all professional football in the UK, is currently postponed due to the lockdown imposed to combat Covid-19. Currently this runs until 30 April, but the suspension could be extended if the situation has not improved by then.