Premier League clubs to clash over broadcast rebates with bigger names keen to limit losses

The Premier League’s clubs are expected to clash over their individual rebate costs at Thursday's shareholder meeting with the most successful, who are featured most often live on television, facing a greater loss from the £340 million owed to broadcasters.

The clubs will vote on who bears the greatest individual losses from a domestic and international television deal that was originally expected to earn them around £9.2 billion over three years, with disagreement expected as to the size of the burden each must shoulder. Top clubs already feel that, with fans shut out, they are suffering disproportionately from the loss of matchday revenue, and want to minimise their broadcast losses.

The third round of Covid-19 testing of players and staff in the Premier League over Monday and Tuesday – 1,008 in all – yielded four positive cases in three clubs. Clubs have been told that the provision for the fourth round of testing will be increased from 50 individuals to 60.

The rebate due to broadcasters is required within the current three-year rights cycle that began with this season. Any attempt to extend the current deal is unlikely to fall foul of industry regulator Ofcom. The 20 clubs voted on Wendesday to restart full contact training – “stage two” of the government protocols on elite sport’s return – but it will be Thursday morning’s meeting in which the full picture will emerge, including the estimated financial cost.

The rebate will increase if the league misses its July 16 deadline to finish – after which it must pay a penalty of £36 million for every week it overruns. The enforced move to behind-closed-doors games during the pandemic has also meant that broadcasters can argue that they are not being delivered the product for which they paid.

Broadcasters have maintained that since the league’s suspension, which began on March 13, they have not been able to achieve a financial return on the rights they have bought. There is scepticism at the clubs as to how broadcasters have arrived at the £340 million figure given that no financial data has been disclosed to the Premier League. There is also renewed optimism at the strength of the Premier League’s live football offering given how healthy viewing figures have been for the Bundesliga, which returned two weekends ago.

There will also be opposition to any attempt to play games at neutral venues in spite of the fear that police forces and local authorities will insist that is the case for certain high-risk fixtures. The league is hopeful that it will be able to play conventional home and away fixtures although that may not be possible in every case. The clubs will also be told what the proposed start and finish dates for the league season are likely to be although these will remain provisional until the last moment.