Shadow2
Well-known member
OK say we own our own TV rights but ours is locked into an sfa league deal if we then drop out of the deal and go it alone then the other clubs don't get any of the money why should they play against us???? Motherwell v livi might not be a big match compared to us or sevco but at least they would be earning money it's like my son with his xbox1 sometimes he won't let me use it so I pull the fuse out of the electric box he can't use it without power I can't play on it because it's his so we come to an agreement
Think you've kinda missed the point Jinxy.
If we did go it alone (even if the rest remained a collective) then we would own the TV rights to our home matches only. The rights to any televised away games would be owned by the collective so the entire TV revenue generated through those away games would go to the collective which means any team we play away from home still make money from playing us.
Granted they probably wouldn't make as much as they do now since any TV deal the collective negotiated would be minus the rights to Celtic home games (i.e. Celtic v Sevco) and in TV deal terms that's where the bargaining power lies in negotiations as that's where the biggest demand for televised Scottish football lies. If those clubs were to then refuse to play Celtic they would bring in even less revenue through a TV deal because the TV companies would also be losing out on all Celtic away matches as well as the Celtic v Sevco games and whether the smaller clubs like it or not no Celtic means less demand.
Why else do you think Sevco's 'journey' through the lower divisions was demanded as part of any TV deal negotiated by the SPFL after Rangers bit the dust? As far as the TV companies were concerned no Sevco meant less viewers, which meant less subscribers to their channels, which meant a loss in revenue. Whether we or anyone else liked it or not doing a TV deal minus Sevco made a deal less attractive to them because it meant that those companies would make less money.
If the rest decided to follow suit and go it alone, then the individual club would own all rights to their home matches and the entire TV revenue generated through those games would go to that club and since the demand to see Kilmarnock v Celtic is greater than the demand to see Kilmarnock v Livi it would be a ridiculous act of self harm for Kilmarnock to refuse to play Celtic as it would be those matches which generate the most revenue for them in any deal they make.
Just as an aside, there is no SFA league deal. The only TV deals involving the SFA are in relation to Scottish Cup and League Cup games which the SFA own the rights to as they're both Association tournaments. TV deals for the league are negotiated by the SPFL (a body made up of the clubs) who have agreed to sell their rights as a collective but clubs are only locked in to those deals for the duration of the agreed TV contract and once that expires clubs would be free to walk away and negotiate their own individual deals. The only course of action the other clubs could maybe take would be to expel any member club who done so but as that too would also harm any future TV deal not to mention possibly result in many years of legal action it's unlikely they would do so.
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