Liverpool FC Official Thread

Liverpool seek TV breakaway from Premier League

Tony Barrett
1 minute ago

Liverpool have signalled their desire to break away from the rest of the Premier League and negotiate their own overseas TV rights deal.

The club believe that they are not getting a fair deal from the collective bargaining model that shares the £1.4 billion, three-year contract evenly between all 20 top-flight sides, who each received £17.9 million last season.

Liverpool argue that they would be able to negotiate a far more lucrative contract independently and, if they are successful, they could pave the way for other high-profile clubs, such as Manchester United, to follow suit.

Smaller clubs will be dismayed by the plans, though, feeling that the end of collective bargaining will only widen the gap in wealth.

Liverpool and United counter this by saying their prime motive is to stay competitive with the other leading clubs in Europe, such as Real Madrid and Barcelona, who are able to negotiate lucrative individual contracts for global TV rights. On top of that, Liverpool warn of the threat to the Premier League’s status as world football’s most profitable and popular league unless its biggest clubs are able to keep pace with the Spanish giants.

Ian Ayre, the Liverpool managing director, said: “If Real Madrid or Barcelona or other big European clubs have the opportunity to truly realise their international media value, where does that leave Liverpool and Man United? We’ll just share ours because we’ll all be nice to each other?

“But the whole phenomenon of the Premier League could be threatened. If they just get bigger and bigger and they generate more and more, then all the players will start drifting that way, won’t they, and will the Premier League bubble be burst because we are sticking to this equal-sharing model? It’s a real debate that has to happen.”

The league’s international television rights deal expires at the end of the 2012-13 season and Ayre has questioned whether it should be renewed. A recent report by Sport+Markt estimated that the Premier League’s global fanbase is 1.46 billion strong — 70 per cent of the world’s estimated 2.08 billion football fans — and that the television audience for games has risen to 4.7 billion across 212 countries.

But with Real and Barcelona having deals with Mediapro until at least 2012-13 that will contribute broadcasting revenues of, on average, approximately £136 million each season, Ayre fears that such dominance could come under threat.

Ayre is happy to see the status quo maintained where domestic TV rights are concerned, readily conceding that take-up of the Sky package is not dependent on the popularity of particular clubs. But he insists the situation is different overseas given the massive following that Liverpool and United boast abroad, in Asia and the Far East especially.

“Maybe the path will be individual TV rights like they do in Spain,” he said. “There are so many things moving in that area. What is certain is that, with the greatest of respect to our colleagues in the Premier League, if you’re a Bolton fan in Bolton, then you subscribe to Sky because you want to watch Bolton, and everyone gets that.

“Likewise, if you’re a Liverpool fan from Liverpool, you subscribe. But if you’re in Kuala Lumpur there isn’t anyone subscribing to Astro or ESPN to watch Bolton, or if they are it’s a very small number. The large majority are subscribing because they want to watch Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea or Arsenal. So is it right that the international rights are shared equally between all the clubs?”

Liverpool are likely to raise the issue at the next Premier League meeting. For the present situation to be changed, the proposition would be voted on by the 20 clubs and would need a two-thirds majority — 14 clubs in favour — for any amendments to be implemented.

At present there does not appear to be a groundswell of support for what would amount to a revolution. In a recent interview Mr. Ferguson claimed that “whatever we get [in TV revenue] is not enough”, but the United manager qualified his statement with an admission that “it is fair” that the proceeds are shared evenly.

Ayre, though, believes that the present situation should be debated at least and while Ferguson may not be supportive, the Glazer family, who own United, could be natural allies given their determination to maximise the club’s revenue potential overseas.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/football/clubs/liverpool/article3191498.ece

Liverpool hold heads up higher after walking through storm

Tony Barrett
1 minute ago

What a difference a year makes. This time 12 months ago, Liverpool were in the midst of their worst start to a season for 57 years having just lost at home to Blackpool. That, though, was not even the worst of it. At the High Court in London, a battle for the ownership of the club was taking place in the knowledge that debts in excess of £200 million were putting them at risk of going into administration.

Such a scenario might have been unthinkable at the time and unimaginable now given Liverpool’s sporting renaissance and return to fiscal health under the guidance of Fenway Sports Group (FSG). But Ian Ayre, the Liverpool managing director, admits that the threat of RBS, the club’s creditor, calling in its debts in the event of Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr thwarting FSG’s takeover bid was very real.

“Certainly the bank had the power to call in the debt and at the time there wasn’t anyone ready to take on that debt,” Ayre said. “So I guess the answer to that is yes we could have gone into administration. It’s hypothetical but based on where we were and based on the circumstances at the time, that was a very real threat.

“The most difficult part of it was that it was a financial issue — the ability of the club to continue to invest in the team with the growing level of debt that existed. The commercial part of the business was continuing to grow but the disenfranchising of fans started to kill even that. What you had was a domino effect of things. Debt was going up and the cost of servicing the debt was beyond what we felt was reasonable.”

It was the determination of Ayre and his fellow board members, Martin Broughton and Christian Purslow, respectively the chairman and chief executive at the time, to push through the sale to FSG that triggered the court battle that took Liverpool to the brink. Almost a year on from their date with destiny, the trio have already received a first anniversary present from Hicks and Gillett.

“We were all served with papers seeking damages for £1 billion and those lawsuits are ongoing,” Ayre said. “They continue the litigation process. They seem intent on following that. We still feel very confident that we did the right thing and will defend that position.

“The next stage in that, I believe, is October 31, when our latest responses to their claims will be heard. The sad thing about it is that they have lost twice yet continue. It’s just a distraction when everyone is moving on, moving forward and making progress.”

The strides that have been taken since then are marked, with the rebirth of the club book-ended by a defeat by Everton and a victory over their local rivals (both fixtures ended 2-0). FSG’s decision to replace the hugely unpopular Roy Hodgson as manager with the hugely popular Kenny Dalglish may not have required much imagination or vision but, at a stroke, it restored harmony and offered Liverpool a route out of an on-pitch malaise that had threatened to consume them.

“I think Kenny’s appointment is the catalyst to what we have achieved,” Ayre said. “It wasn’t lucky. The owners made a very wise decision. It brought everyone together.”

For Ayre, such improvements represent the base level of his and FSG’s ambitions — “What has happened since is what should exactly be happening at this club no matter who owns it,” is his way of describing their shared expectations.

The next stage of the rebirth is to give Liverpool a platform to compete with their rivals at home and abroad, with a conclusion to their stadium saga one of their most pressing concerns. The possibility of refurbishing Anfield appears increasingly remote, thereby escalating the need to find a naming rights partner to sponsor a proposed new stadium on Stanley Park.

“It is essential for us to do something on the stadium,” Ayre said. “We have been in discussions here and in other parts of the world with a small group of people that we have narrowed down for naming rights.

“But just like the deal we have done with Standard Chartered and some other deals, you don’t go and ask for that size of opportunity overnight. We have to weed through the people who realistically could do it and then work through their organisation before getting to the guy who hopefully is going to write the cheque.

“What a new stadium does is get us on par. If we are back in Europe, back in the Champions League, back being a top-four club on a consistent basis, then we’d still have a hole without it.”

Number crunching

£184.5m

Liverpool’s annual turnover, according to their most recent financial report.

£418m

Real Madrid’s recently announced annual turnover, a world record.

80,000

The number of fans who attended Liverpool’s pre-season friendly against a Malaysian XI in Kuala Lumpur last summer.

45,276

The capacity of Anfield, 30,000 less than Old Trafford and the Bernabéu, and 54,000 fewer seats than the Nou Camp.

6m

Fans using Liverpool’s official Facebook page.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/football/clubs/liverpool/article3191374.ece

VivaRonaldo wrote:Why is he bringing United into it?

Alan wrote:

VivaRonaldo wrote:Why is he bringing United into it?

Just leave it before it gets any worse.

VivaRonaldo wrote:

Alan wrote:

Just leave it before it gets any worse.

Leave what? I'm asking a question.

Mr Leiva wrote:Anyway. If this happens.

Football will be ruined.

SpiritOfShankly wrote:

Mr Leiva wrote:Anyway. If this happens.

Football will be ruined.

why? The club would get more money out of it. Doesn't affect you in anyway. Real Madrid and Barcelona both benefit from it.

Alan wrote:Saturday is the important game, but i just got my Rangers v Liverpool tickets for next week.

Filippo Inzaghi wrote:

Alan wrote:Saturday is the important game, but i just got my Rangers v Liverpool tickets for next week.

Hope you enjoy your first ever Liverpool game.

Filippo Inzaghi wrote:Go for it.

Alan wrote:

Filippo Inzaghi wrote:Go for it.

Only one problem they are all photographs. I did not have mobile phones and the tinternet back then, so how do you get photographs onto the tinternet. Take photos of the photos. Also got loads of Liverpool stuff got a few European cup final programmes and programmes from a while ago.

Laurencio wrote:

Alan wrote: Only one problem they are all photographs. I did not have mobile phones and the tinternet back then, so how do you get photographs onto the tinternet. Take photos of the photos. Also got loads of Liverpool stuff got a few European cup final programmes and programmes from a while ago.

Theres this thing called scanners now a days, you can even use your smart phones as a scanner with the right app...

Mr Leiva wrote:Fucking hell.

Take your shite arguments elsewhere.

kyro7 wrote:

Mr Leiva wrote:Fucking hell.

Take your shite arguments elsewhere.

Woah, this seems like it came from nowhere when the thread was dead.

Eternal Witcher wrote:What did you expect Jordan? This is 90% of this thread.