The 💰decline in UK media rights revenue 📉 has certainly contributed to the Premier League’s struggle to find a successor for outgoing Chairman and Chief Executive Richard Scudamore – who is both fit to cope with the current disruption in the broadcasting and streaming space and also willing to take on the challenge of being directly measured against Scudamore stellar two-decade-long run at the top of the EPL that transformed the league into a commercial powerhouse. 🤷🏼♂️
Similar to the other premier European football leagues, overseas market had been considered as an untapped opportunity with a lot of growth ahead in the coming years. 🚀 Whereas the 🇩🇪 Bundesliga, 🇪🇸 LaLiga, 🇮🇹 Serie A, and even 🇫🇷 Ligue 1 have already somewhat closed the gap to the EPL domestically with recently renewed media rights deals, they have also made major inroads in international markets – where the English top-flight competition has in many instances been able to demand two- to three-times the amount compared to its continental competitors up to this point. However, there have been some major setbacks in selected overseas markets for the EPL as well – just like in the UK. That poses the question of whether the EPL has been an overvalued media property in general and has already hit its peak for the foreseeable future? 🤔
After a flood of new deals for domestic broadcasting rights across football leagues in Europe over the past few months, the Top-Five competitions (🇬🇧 Premier League, 🇪🇸 La Liga, 🇫🇷 Ligue 1, 🇩🇪 Bundesliga & 🇮🇹 Serie A) are now locked up to for at least the next two-and-a-half years, before the Italian Serie A and German Bundesliga are back on the market in 2021. 🔒
The current developments has certainly been something that was also monitored by candidates who already declined the role as the league’s new CEO (e.g. ❌ BBC's Tim Davie, ❌ Discovery's Susanna Dinnage, ❌ ITV's Tom Betts), for which having a background in the 📺 media industry does not only seem to be a “good-to-have” but a “required” prerequisite.
In-between, I took a closer look at a pretty effective defense vehicle against new, deep-pocketed market entrants into the sports broadcasting arena created by incumbents in 🇺🇸 North America: OTT services as incremental product (with exclusive live sports content) instead of complementary distribution (of live sports content shown on the rights holder’s linear channels) takes a lot of second- and third-tier assets, which are desperately need for new entrants to any foothold or momentum, off the table. ☝🏼
Ultimately, I finish with some FINAL HITS, my quick take on a few ongoing sports business and media storylines:
Final Hit 1️⃣:
Small pay-TV makes Germany unattractive for US major leagues.
Final Hit 2️⃣:
MLS to become first premium(-ish) asset with global broadcasting rights?
Final Hit 3️⃣:
BeIN SPORTS' struggles in the US finally reflect in distribution numbers.
Final Hit 4️⃣:
English FA carves-out non-linear rights packages, just like the EPL.
