AHEAD OF THE GAME: WSL seeks an increase of more than 150 PER CENT with broadacasters for their domestic TV deal, while Gareth Southgate’s agent resigns from events company owing hundreds of thousands to Joe Cole
- The WSL’s current deal with Sky Sports and the BBC is worth £7.5m per year
- Meanwhile, the Premier League have reached a deal with UEFA to avoid clashes
- ‘There’s no bigger waste of time!’ What is the point of the Club World Cup? It’s All Kicking Off
The Women’s Super League will seek an increase of more than 150 per cent in the value of their domestic TV deal when they issue the tender document next month, but they have work to do to persuade broadcasters that their product merits such a huge rise.
The current joint deal with Sky Sports and the BBC is worth £7.5million a year and the WSL are targeting around £20m from the next contract to reflect the explosion of interest after the success of England’s Lionesses.
The WSL are set to follow the Premier League’s example by making more games available for broadcast, but this is not guaranteed to work because the market for live matches is close to saturation point.
Sky remain big supporters of women’s football and plan to bid, but they are not desperate for extra matches as they will show more than 1,000 EFL games per season from next year and at least 215 from the Premier League 12 months later.
The Women’s Super League will seek a £20million deal in their next broadcasting contract
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TNT Sports also intend to bid, and are supportive of proposals for the WSL to get the Saturday 3pm broadcast slot, a move which would required the partial lifting of UEFA’s Article 48.
The BBC also want WSL games, but as they are only contributing around £750,000 a year to the existing deal they are unlikely to fund a huge increase.
Gareth Southgate’s agent resigns from post in debt
Gareth Southgate’s agent Terry Bryne has resigned as a director of a hospitality and events company he was running with Joe Cole after Mail Sport’s revelations that he owes Cole hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Byrne has debts to Southgate, Cole and Glenn Hoddle after he invested money owed to them in a disastrous £25million property deal without their knowledge.
Cole is particularly exercised by the situation having spent months chasing the money, which Byrne has pledged to repay. The former midfielder remains a director of the History Hospitality Group after Byrne stood down last month.
Gareth Southgate’s agent Terry Byrne (left, pictured alongside Pele) has resigned as a director of a hospitality and events company
He was running the business with Cole but owes him hundreds of thousands of pounds
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Premier League avert fixture clashes with UEFA deal
The Premier League have reached an agreement with UEFA to avoid their fixtures clashing with Champions League and Europa League games next season despite the expansion of the group stages to eight midweek rounds.
No formal memorandum of understanding has been signed but the Premier League will not schedule games for European weeks, though postponed matches may be moved into those slots.
The Premier League have reached a deal with UEFA to avoid fixtures coinciding with Champions League and Europa League matches
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