I was listening to Cibo Matto’s album “Viva! La Woman” with Avie yesterday when she pointed out that every song had a food-related title: Apple, White Pepper Ice Cream, Beef Jerky, Know your chicken, and so on. It turns out that Cibo Matto was a food obsessed band. Or that they just liked to use food as a metaphor.
It reminded me of that trick I sometimes use in my writing. When I get too predictable or boring, I’ll pick something and just riff on it for a while. The Premier League as facial hair (Arsenal are a goatee, but old and grey; Liverpool are the hipster mustache, etc). Or maybe managers as birds, surely Jose Mourinho is a Seagull and Eddie Howe is the industrious little hummingbird. Anyway, we’ll have to do some of that this season as a break from the motonoy of arguing over the 4th place trophy for old men and money for the wealthy class.
In yesterday’s piece about the money league, one thing I forgot to mention is that the total turnover for the Premier League was 4.4 billion Pounds. And of that 4.4 billion Pounds, the top five teams account for 50% of that turnover. That’s Man U, Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool*, and Chelsea.
With that kind of pulling power, it’s no surprise that the Premier League has agreed to further enrich the already rich clubs in the League by announcing that even more of the next TV deal will go to teams based on League table position. In order to get it passed by a majority of the clubs they put caps on earning differentials at +18% for the top team but even with those caps, I can’t understand why any club outside the top six would ever vote for such an arrangement. Unless they think that they will eventually break into the top four to six clubs.
And now that they have lifted the lid and Amazon has a chunk of the streaming market, the money is only going to increase. And by money, I mean, the money you and I have to pay to watch football.
Ten years ago I could watch nearly every match on TV in the States for free. Sometimes I had to go to a bar for a special event but there was a golden era there for a while where every single Arsenal match was available to me live and free. Last year we saw the proliferation of “the footballl tax”. By that I mean, the domestic broadcasters in the States took several of their big club matches and instead of putting them on their cable TV channels, they put them on their premier streaming services.
That meant in order for me to watch every single Arsenal match, I had to have cable, internet, a subscription to NBC Gold, a Fox Sports subscription (for Europa League), and/or a YouTubeTV subscription. I get to write these off on my taxes because I write about sports but for the average supporter this would represent quite a hefty annual fee to watch every match.
I know what season ticket holders will say and I’m not complaining about my prices because Arsenal’s season ticket holders pay the highest prices in the land. But when I see that Amazon won the rights to stream matches next season (after this one) I can’t help but see this as just another tax I’ll have to pay to watch Arsenal.
*I expect Arsenal and Liverpool to swap places on the earnings list next summer, when the damages from Wenger’s first season outside of the Champions League full take hold.
I would much prefer a single package for all EPL games from NBC. But with amazon entering the fray the dream is squashed forever. Its only a matter of time the EPL is further split by Facebook/ Youtube and probably Netflix at some point,
Eventually you’ll be able to buy a club based streaming package. Those payments might need to be shared in the league under some formula, but it is the only way forward because this whole splitting of the rights hasn’t helped the consumers at all and at some point people will stop buying. Not anytime soon though it seems.
That’s what we’ve been dreaming for for ages but I think it’s headed in the opposite direction: eventually each match day will have it’s own package you have to buy from a different company.
Ha. If that ever happens I’m out. I could just as easily watch the games the next day on Arsenal’s official site. And there will always be some stream available online for those that would rather not wait.
So far it hasn’t been an issue here. I’m surprised it is in the US. I thought foreign rights were sold by region and not by match packs.
It’s not an essential item despite its captive audience. They can only push it so far. There will be pushback at some point. If not, it is far more likely that one mega giant corporation/state will acquire the rights for it all again, since it is infinitely marketable, and the wheel would have turned full circle.
We used to get NBCSN on Xfinity. It quickly became the only reason we subscribed, so we got Sling instead and swapped passwords with a friend who has Xfinity for more than just PL. Now with a baby and a full life schedule I watch maybe 50% of games live, at best. I’m thinking of giving up sling altogether and just downloading games to watch later. I used to miss live games, but I actually enjoy watching them before I sleep (not knowing the score), being able to skip half time, without paying ridiculous amounts for multiple subscriptions. Not strictly kosher, but it works…
Tim–
Hard to compare the ‘ten years ago’ access– to how subscription services work today. The product was different– new to US consumers then– and giving it away– was handing a new drug to new consumers.
Now a new user-base is hooked and paying a reasonable price. As for Amazon? Jump the fence (or ‘the pond’) for a moment and realize this is the vehicle that begins to open the market and bust the monopoly in the UK. More global, means more subscribers, means lower content pricing– eventually.
Do it for the kids! (Yeah, sorry. But not really.)
For a cost of being entertained? Today, programming is so much more diverse,– and available on one’s own schedule. I used to pay more– for far less 10 years ago (Arsenal notwithstanding).
We’re in the midst of the process of spreading the cost of access to a global market. Our UK brethren– some years behind. Where I see this buy of a partial PL football package by Amazon? Is as the icebreaking vehicle that could smash it all loose much sooner than expected.
jw1
I’m not thrilled about it, but maybe the upshot is that we’ll all have to traipse down the local to watch matches again. Gain in community what you lose in convenience?
And yes, I know, not everyone has a local; but everyone could. As long as they’re ordering something, any group of four or five that meets regularly at a pub is going to get control of at least one TV, even if they’re not boozing.
That’s REALLy hard on the West Coast where matches might start at 0430.
Yes. And for those of us with young families who we barely see during the week, I think it’s asking too much. It’s also not inclusive of the kids if we want to watch with them.
In Australia, the right for broadcasting the PL has been given to a telephone company called Optus
I have to buy a useless mobileplan , as I already got one, and pay 45 $ a month for the Optus Sport. This ofcourse does not include any of the European games or any other league to the FA cup.
The earliest game by my time starts at 11:30 pm leaving you with only games that are held on Friday and Saturday night
And now Amazon! This is horrible
Pretty much all credible rumours have dried up. Some decent business being done to fill the gaps but still can’t see much sign of the new team working their magic to bring in some exciting talent plus given the delay in announcing Sokratis given we started on the deal in April are we right to assume the ponderous transfer negotiations were not Wenger after all.
I think we are right to assume that transfer negotiations are generally ponderous for all clubs. Liverpool are the exception in this window, but what have Chelsea, Spurs, and United, for example, done so far? I wouldn’t get too worried about the lack of movement right now.
Also, for some reason, Sokratis is done, but the transfer can’t be announced until July. According to Telegraph:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/06/08/arsenal-agree-deal-sign-defender-sokratis-papastathopoulos-16m/
I think we probably want to either announce someone more exciting first, or perhaps tie up another defensive deal. Not sure tbh.
Or it’s to do with the accounts. Money transferred or received in the new year (July)
Judging by the Fekir deal and some stuff around that, this sounds probably right.
Maybe their holding off because they want to unveil Fellaini first. Oh man, Jack Action’s head must have exploded when he heard what Pires said today!
Wonder if there’s any truth to the Torreira rumors. He looks a good player (a DM!) who can wriggle out of tight situations in a way reminiscent of Cazorla.
When my past hobbies became too expensive, I dropped them. Not much choice with two kids and an unreliable musician’s income despite Wife-of-1Nil’s 20+ years at her company.
First vintage guitars, then single malt whiskey, perhaps Arsenal in the future. I desperately hope not but I will not hesitate.
Hear you loud and clear on that one. Four kids, single-income family, mortgage. My hobbies have been reduced to cheap gin and Netflix after the kids are in bed. Living the dream, baby! 😂
Your “poor” life is one to be envied, especially the cheap gin.
I used to think anthony bourdain had the best job in the world: travel and eat. What could be better? But I guess if you’re happy, you’re happy, and if you’re not, you’re not.
(mmm, Gordon’s gin. No bottle smaller than the 40-pounder. ) Yep, me too. I don’t have cable or a tv and I won’t be arsed to buy either of those at the cost it would be. This is more stark to me now as I consider the world cup. 4 years ago CTV in Canada streamed every game for no extra cost or program. Now it appears you have to have a cable subscription to watch in on a device on either CTV or TSN. I can’t do it. And I can’t f-off to the pub for every game I want to watch. I have to trust in the internet free streams to watch after the live versions
It seems to me, not that I have any inside information, that in the not too distant future, TV/streaming rights will come down to individual clubs, with say Real, Barca, Manure fans, worldwide, buying into their individual clubs matches, home and away.
Fans want to watch their own teams, and to hell with the games between perceived ‘lower’ teams such as Stoke v West Brom, or Wolves v QPR [apologes to fans of these type of clubs].
This will swing the balance even more in the way of Real/Barca/City/Pool etc as they will command more of the commercial TV/Streaming deals and enhanced sponsorship income.
Not a level playing field in sight, but commercial interests do not give a stuff about ‘fairness’ and /or ‘equality’.
N.B. Thanks for the Post.
1Nil,
My father told me that years ago, pre-TV domination, there was very little access to games other than a season ticket or paying on the gate, and that was accepted because theTV era had not occurred.
Many fans, in the near future, will be priced out of TV/Streaming access to football, and will rely on ‘naughty’ hacking or simply waiting for ‘highlights’ the next day — and they will adjust, or listen to the streamed radio programmes, after all not every Arsenal game is available even now, and that is the ‘normal’ default.
I will probably take the same decision that you and many others will take.
Some of my mates have Android boxes with Kodi-enabled illegal streaming. Not a route I want to go down as I genuinely want to support the Premier League and especially our club for a reasonable price. I don’t quite know what “reasonable” means yet and it fluctuates but if I myself locked out of the house with my clothes in heap in the front yard covered with TV and internet bills, I’d take that a strong hint!
I cant think of anything Arsenal related today with the unfortunate passing of Anthony Bourdain who I have followed for well over a decade, almost as long as I have been a fan of Arsenal. RIP Tony, you will be missed.
Big fan of his as well. Sad news.
I didn’t necessarily like his attutide towards some things or his reductionist approach to culture and politics, but as a man he seemed to be a top guy. Great article on him on Vox today. I’m sad about this.
Good call out on the Vox piece. I 2nd that recommendation.
“Context and memory play powerful roles in all the truly great meals in one’s life.
My house is run, essentially, by an adopted, fully clawed cat with a mean nature.
I’m not afraid to look like an idiot.”
– Anthony Bourdain
My early ‘soccer on cable TV’ memories are inseparable from the voices of Dick Howard, Bob Lenarduzzi, Craig Forrest, Bobby McMahon, Brian Williams (an expert in downhill skiing and canoeing), and Vic Rauter (who seemed barely aware that he was covering a sport). If Amazon get Williams and Rauter, I’m signing up, because their immovable faces and dry ignorance were almost as entertaining as the game itself, sometimes more so!
European Super League. I think that’s where it’s going, and when it does I think I’m out.
I hate Brexit but I am also sick to the back teeth of everything good in life being subordinate to profit maximization in the context of the free international movement of money but not people.
Uefa have increased CL payments to the biggest clubs to stop them from leaving to form the super league.
Some 10 years ago Formula 1 was seriously facing the prospect of Ferrari and mclaren leaving to form their own racing competition taking the major sponsors and constructors with them. Never happened.
I think it’s harder to do than it seems. The clubs will unite against uefa but will not be on the same page when it comes to dividing the pie among themselves.
It will happen somehow but I think there’s time.
I agree. That’s also the point outgoing the PL Chief has been making.
He said: “This is why our success should be promoted and celebrated: the stronger the Premier League is, the more successful the Premier League is, the more international rights we generate, the more the TV deals go up, the less incentive there is for any of our clubs to leave the Premier League. Why would you? £150m [a year]? Good luck finding that, you won’t get it in the Champions League.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/06/08/premier-league-chief-defends-huge-profits-bigger-tv-deal-less/
I can’t see how a European Super League is gonna replicate the TV money the Premier League generates. The big 6 are guaranteed their £150m + whatever CL/EL money they earn. Best of both worlds really.
On another note, good to see the PL/FA are finally tackling the evil scourge on the game that are agents.
persuasive arguments
This is true for now. But I think in time the push to form a Super League might even come from the various domestic leagues.
Sounds strange. But if the dominance of a very tiny minority of clubs continues, the interest in the product may begin to wane, and the money may start to dry up. This will hit the smallest clubs first and the hardest.
The argument against a Super League would be that big clubs become even more dominant. But what if you could have the best of both worlds?
SL clubs to play a weaker team in the domestic leagues. Either based on age, or based on transfer/wage spend, or a combination. This should allow the smaller clubs to close the gap in domestic leagues while still profiting from the big clubs’ presence. While the big clubs still get a (maybe slightly reduced) share of the PL money, and the potentially huge money from the SL. Add in some solidarity payments, or greater transfer fees or something and the rest of the league might see enough benefit in voting for allowing the SL rather than it being a breakaway.
This presumes there is enough interest, but if Arsenal were playing the likes of Bayern and Juventus every week, while Nelson and Nketiah played against not-Stoke (haha) in the PL, I know I’d be interested.
Nerd question but I’d genuinely be interested if knowledgeable commenters have any info on what seems to be an economic paradox here. Instead of choice of providers in a free market, what (we) consumers seem to be asking for here is a monopoly. Is this an example of market failure and if so what species of failure is it? What regulation / market structure would work better?
There cannot be a ‘free market’ when there’s just one supplier (Premier League) The entire basis of a free market would be that there are enough sellers and enough buyers to reach an equilibrium on price. The TV/Streaming companies are not providers, they are middle men bringing the product to the consumer. They are betting that the product does not have any substitute. (Bundesliga, Seria A, Ligue 1). For this they pay the supplier a premium, and they’ll keep squeezing the consumer as long as that remains true.
No regulation required unless you deem football and sports competitions, even at the top level, are held, at least in part, in public interest. The ‘market’ will protest, but is the FA an entirely private body or a public body? (A parallel could be an Indian court ruling that a state level cricket association, though a private body, works in public interest and so cannot evade the anti-corruption procedures required of public bodies)
If the product is deemed in public interest, then access to it needs to be reasonably priced so as to not exclude many.
If that is a principle that is agreed then the modalities whether through changes in the process of bidding, bundling, advertising, price to consumer, or manner of access (club season tickets) can be worked out.
But the PL is a huge money spinner, and I don’t think any govt body (except the tax authorities, which is basically the govt taking their cut) are willing to mess with them for now.
PS. A regulation could also look at contracts that the supplier – PL, signs with the traders, the TV stations, to see if they have conditions that harm the consumers’ interests, by either changing the product (match timings) or not giving the consumers enough information about the product (how fixtures are decided, how referees are selected, how referees actually performed, how drugs tests are conducted, how the different clubs vote on certain measures etc)
PPS. I’m no expert and not especially knowledgeable. Just thought your question was interesting. So feel free to ignore all the above.
Here’s a good discussion – http://stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com/stumbling_and_mumbling/2018/06/measuring-competition.html
Pardon my digression…Any stats on this Lucas kid? Seems he’s arsenal “bound according to the metro”
It’s Metro, so I doubt they have any genuine information.