SPFL Should Be Eyeing Up Top TV Deal!

Date: 30th May 2018

 

Scottish Professional Football League Chief Executive Neil Doncaster needs to strike while the iron is hot and get a new, improved TV deal signed while Scottish football is on such a high.

The current deal, worth £18.95m per season with SKY and BT Sport, ends in the summer of 2019. If Neil can be proactive then I have no doubts he can strike a greater contract with the networks for the next few seasons.

Celtic have won a second treble in a row and have a high profile manager in Brendan Rodgers. They have continued pulling power and are a worldwide brand.

Rangers have hired Steven Gerrard as their new boss and he’s a hugely famous name in the footballing world. Within a week of his appointment, The Gers saw their social media following grow by a whopping 50,000 followers. The club’s #WelcomeGerrard video generated over 1m views on Twitter.

Gerrard’s star power and a potential battle with his former Liverpool boss could catch the imagination of a new audience to the Scottish game and be a fine narrative for all the media companies involved in the Scottish game.

The Glasgow giants have also announced that they are on their way to announcing that they’ve reached record levels in season ticket sales this summer.

Both Aberdeen and Hibs had tremendous season’s last term and they made the final fixtures of the campaign relevant, as the Dons secured second spot and Hibs just missed out but also helped prevent Rangers from getting there in a thrilling 5-5 draw.

Hearts are an unpredictable force but they seem to have plenty of exciting youngsters coming through.

The Scottish Premiership will also have two new club’s for the audience to get used to. Both St Mirren and Livingston were entertaining in the Championship and will hope they can shine once again in the country’s top flight.

Motherwell and Kilmarnock have also been success stories. Crowds have gone up, the football has been exciting and they’ve hit the right notes on the social media front. They’re two sides that are embracing their support and it’s working wonders.

I also think that Neil Doncaster has to reach out to broadcasters and get them to show more of the lower leagues. The Championship will have Partick Thistle, Ayr United, Morton, Inverness Caley Thistle and Ross County in it. So I can only see that being a fantastic watch next term.

Doncaster has to be enthusiastic and show that our game has so much to offer and is improving all the time.

As well as pointing to the future and what’s going on now, he should be shouting about the career paths of Andrew Robertson and Virgil van Dijk as both Champions League finalists were educated in our leagues.

Let’s see broadcasters fighting for the right to show Scottish football. The networks need to understand that our fans love our game and will follow it, but the likes of SKY need to treat us with the respect we deserve.

Pay us more and take more of an interest, instead of going in cheap and treating the Scottish game as an afterthought!

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