Sky Sports are Taking the Piss Thread

[The Master]

2 minutes ago, craigkillie said:

They could apply the novel concept of having more than one on at the same time.

That’s not something Sky do, except for a league’s final day.

[craigkillie]

They used to, there was a time when they broadcast far more football than they do now. The SPFL's previous TV deal was 60 games and that ran in parallel with an EFL deal. The alternative is that these matches will still be on TV at the same time, but one of them (the SPFL one) will be on a rival channel.

[The Master]

4 minutes ago, craigkillie said:

They used to, there was a time when they broadcast far more football than they do now. The SPFL's previous TV deal was 60 games and that ran in parallel with an EFL deal. The alternative is that these matches will still be on TV at the same time, but one of them (the SPFL one) will be on a rival channel.

Yes, “used to”. That was before they launched the themed channels and Main Event (which is the primary motivation for no clashing games). 

Sky only had 30 games in that 60 game deal. 

[Ray Patterson]

Worth noting that those extra 20 games - which are 2 packages of 10 matches - are matches that probably won't involve the Old Firm as there at the "Other 10's" grounds.

Absolutely baffling that you can have a centralised league TV deal where two clubs get special treatment. £10 charity bet that Viaplay snap them up at about £2m each - half of what the SPFL want.

The new Sky deal is a complete shambles, and the EFL getting the best part of £200m a season proves it. People should be resigning at club and league level over this.

[gannonball]

5 hours ago, Ray Patterson said:

Worth noting that those extra 20 games - which are 2 packages of 10 matches - are matches that probably won't involve the Old Firm as there at the "Other 10's" grounds.

Absolutely baffling that you can have a centralised league TV deal where two clubs get special treatment. £10 charity bet that Viaplay snap them up at about £2m each - half of what the SPFL want.

The new Sky deal is a complete shambles, and the EFL getting the best part of £200m a season proves it. People should be resigning at club and league level over this.

Not sure what your getting at here, There's a maximum number of games at each ground so I'm not seeing any special treatment? And yeah tbh I would be  surprised if anyone snaps them up for even 2 million tbh.

[VincentGuerin]

7 hours ago, Ray Patterson said:

The new Sky deal is a complete shambles, and the EFL getting the best part of £200m a season proves it. People should be resigning at club and league level over this.

The EFL has 72 teams (many of whom are genuinely big clubs), is played in a country with a much bigger population than Scotland, it is genuinely competitive and exciting (even if the actual football is often poor), people outside Scotland actually care what happens in it, and it feeds into Sky's main product in the Premier League. In any given season you can have really big clubs struggling to get anywhere (hello Sunderland, the Sheffield clubs, previously Leeds and Villa), and it's littered with famous names from English fitba that are instantly recognisable and marketable. The EFL has THE RICHEST GAME IN WORLD FOOTBALL!!!!

Scotland has two teams that win every time they're on, and very few people outside Scotland are interested in which one of them will win the league. Precisely not one f**k is given outside Scotland about who finishes third or gets relegated. Big events in Scottish football like the Edinburgh derby cup final or Hibs winning the cup pass by with hardly anyone outside noticing or caring. I've got mates who are interested in football who couldn't tell you Hearts have been relegated twice recently without heavy prompting. You'd stop a lot of people in the street in England before you find someone who can name you an Aberdeen player or tell you who the Dundee United manager is. There is no interest in Scottish football and that gives them literally nothing to sell and the idea our tv deal can be compared to the EFL does not hold water.

Even the Big Flagship Fixture, the OF game, is often tucked away in a Saturday or Sunday 12pm slot or some such thing. And people in England (I live in England) generally don't even realise it's on. Nobody is meeting their mates in the pub because Rangers v Celtic is on at 12.30 on a Saturday. I'm just not sure what some people think we're selling here.

Edited April 4, 2023 by VincentGuerin

[Dons_1988]

25 minutes ago, VincentGuerin said:

The EFL has 72 teams (many of whom are genuinely big clubs), is played in a country with a much bigger population than Scotland, it is genuinely competitive and exciting (even if the actual football is often poor), people outside Scotland actually care what happens in it, and it feeds into Sky's main product in the Premier League. In any given season you can have really big clubs struggling to get anywhere (hello Sunderland, the Sheffield clubs, previously Leeds and Villa), and it's littered with famous names from English fitba that are instantly recognisable and marketable. The EFL has THE RICHEST GAME IN WORLD FOOTBALL!!!!

Scotland has two teams that win every time they're on, and very few people outside Scotland are interested in which one of them will win the league. Precisely not one f**k is given outside Scotland about who finishes third or gets relegated. Big events in Scottish football like the Edinburgh derby cup final or Hibs winning the cup pass by with hardly anyone outside noticing or caring. I've got mates who are interested in football who couldn't tell you Hearts have been relegated twice recently without heavy prompting. You'd stop a lot of people in the street in England before you find someone who can name you an Aberdeen player or tell you who the Dundee United manager is. There is no interest in Scottish football and that gives them literally nothing to sell and the idea our tv deal can be compared to the EFL does not hold water.

Even the Big Flagship Fixture, the OF game, is often tucked away in a Saturday or Sunday 12pm slot or some such thing. And people in England (I live in England) generally don't even realise it's on. Nobody is meeting their mates in the pub because Rangers v Celtic is on at 12.30 on a Saturday. I'm just not sure what some people think we're selling here.

Aye. I spent a few years in England and they really, really look on it with contempt. I had friends who knew I was an Aberdeen fan who questioned my sanity for going up for a semi final. Not that I expect them to particularly care at all, I barely pay attention to their far larger top flight, but there is a definite sneering culture about it. 

That aside, the rest is also spot on. The league is happy for sky to give us just enough money to keep the lights on because they know fine well there is no market beyond Scotland.

The alternative (my preference but understand why it’ll never happen) is to detach completely from the rat race of trying to scrape an extra couple of crumbs from the table in the hope that one day it’ll grow through European participation or something else. That would involve a massive downsizing of the game most likely and the quality would drop but the only ‘quality’ we see is relatively good players scudding diddies week in week out. 

Take a completely different path, forget the tv money and cut your cloth accordingly. The old firm would want nothing to do with it, I would actually prefer to actually compete in a league with them but if they wanted to resign and f**k off then good luck to them. 

[Salvo Montalbano]

Similar story when I lived down Southampton way. Used to have to scramble about to find a pub - any pub - that would show the Old Firm games, or else head into Walkabout and see if they'd put it on one of their little screens out the back. If I was really desperate to watch, there was a Celtic club, an Irish bar and a Rangers club but I wouldn't be seen dead in any of those. Even Old Firm games would get a cursory two or three line write up in the Monday newspapers, whereas the big games from the EFL would get a full page. Only exception was if you could find a paper shop that stocked the Record.

[Trackdaybob]

Been living and working in England for 12 years now. No one gives the slightest of fucks about Scottish football down here. 

Where fans of the bigot brothers get this idea that they're somehow 'big' or relevant in any way is beyond me. 

I suppose they need to cling on to something though, to help them feel good about themselves. 

Ultimately, we get the tv deal we deserve

[TheScarf]

Just now, Trackdaybob said:

Been living and working in England for 12 years now. No one gives the slightest of fucks about Scottish football down here. 

Where fans of the bigot brothers get this idea that they're somehow 'big' or relevant in any way is beyond me. 

I suppose they need to cling on to something though, to help them feel good about themselves. 

Ultimately, we get the tv deal we deserve

I'd say its more the Scottish media who thinks anyone outside of Scotland and Belfast care about Scottish football.

For all the hacks reading this thread just now, here's a story for you - they don't.

[scottsdad]

1 hour ago, TheScarf said:

I'd say its more the Scottish media who thinks anyone outside of Scotland and Belfast care about Scottish football.

For all the hacks reading this thread just now, here's a story for you - they don't.

[Antiochas III]

4 hours ago, Trackdaybob said:

Been living and working in England for 12 years now. No one gives the slightest of fucks about Scottish football down here. 

Where fans of the bigot brothers get this idea that they're somehow 'big' or relevant in any way is beyond me. 

I suppose they need to cling on to something though, to help them feel good about themselves. 

Ultimately, we get the tv deal we deserve

Tbf outside their home towns  They really don't care about anything but the Premier League - certainly don't care about the EFL outside the playoffs/unless they're in that league as well.  

 

Also anyone that says viewing figures for the EFL is higher than the SPFL is flat out wrong.  

Edited April 4, 2023 by Antiochas III

[Darren]

I suppose the SPFL and Sky could try doing something relevant for the 50% of fans who have no interest in watching Home Team v Celtic/Rangers most weeks. But being tied to four games per stadium and with a maximum of 48 to screen, I can accept that's probably not in Sky's commercial interests.

The new deal should make it easier – commercially and logistically – for Sky to show some more Premiership games that are of interest to those of us who have the fortune not to support one of Celtic/Rangers.

[ahemps]

47 minutes ago, Antiochas III said:

Tbf outside their home towns  They really don't care about anything but the Premier League - certainly don't care about the EFL outside the playoffs/unless they're in that league as well.  

 

Also anyone that says viewing figures for the EFL is higher than the SPFL is flat out wrong.  

I wonder if there is a caveat to that though, the figures may be slightly bigger as it is always the OF away from home who are playing so it is likely the exact same fans/people. The EFL will have totally different people viewing different games therefore are probably hitting a much wider audience overall.

[VincentGuerin]

2 hours ago, ahemps said:

I wonder if there is a caveat to that though, the figures may be slightly bigger as it is always the OF away from home who are playing so it is likely the exact same fans/people. The EFL will have totally different people viewing different games therefore are probably hitting a much wider audience overall.

It would be interesting to know that. Instinctively, it seems likely, but I've never seen things broken down like that.

When it comes to the money they are prepared to pay, you have to consider that Sky view over-paying a bit for EFL stuff as worth it, as it's all in the Premier League eco-system. Clubs like Preston are massively over-rewarded by this approach. Nobody is interested in them, but it's in Sky's interests for the EFL to be afloat and of a good standard, as that's the funnel for teams into the Premier League. It's not just all about how many people are watching those leagues specifically.

When it comes to the SPFL, Sky have no incentive to pay more. It has essentially no appeal outside a country of 5 million people, and it has absolutely no impact on Sky's main products. You could remove Scottish fitba from telly altogether and most people who live in the UK wouldn't notice or care.

People are absolutely kidding themselves on if they think Scotland's clubs can expect anything like what Championship clubs in England get.

[Arch Stanton]

10 hours ago, VincentGuerin said:

Scotland has two teams that win every time they're on...

Hello...

 

[Satoshi]

It's correct that nobody outside Scotland would particularly care about Scottish football, that applies to every league in the world except the big four / big five in Europe.

It's not something we can influence, and it shouldn't bother us in the slightest.

Our TV deal should be compared to its peers of nations around 5mil people or at a stretch less than 10mil.

As we are by far the most successful and popular nation in our peer group our TV deal should be significantly higher than, say, Norway or Finland.

It isn't because we don't benefit from a strong domestic broadcaster.

We should, but that will only come with independence.

Until then we will be treated like an irrelevance and paid accordingly.

Same as our national team games not being available on domestic television.

[Kapowzer]

12 hours ago, Darren said:

The new deal should make it easier – commercially and logistically – for Sky to show some more Premiership games that are of interest to those of us who have the fortune not to support one of Celtic/Rangers.

Yeah the race for meh UEFA cup or the diddy one is top box office.

it's a shame BT lost it as they at least made a bit of an effort.

Only a matter of time before Pique's new fangled 7 a side thing maybe makes things interesting for a while again.

[Ranaldo Bairn]

4 hours ago, Kapowzer said:

Yeah the race for meh UEFA cup or the diddy one is top box office.

it's a shame BT lost it as they at least made a bit of an effort.

Only a matter of time before Pique's new fangled 7 a side thing maybe makes things interesting for a while again.

Jesus.

The Hundred in football form.

That would finish me off.

[Connor1874]

On 04/04/2023 at 08:12, Dons_1988 said:

Aye. I spent a few years in England and they really, really look on it with contempt. I had friends who knew I was an Aberdeen fan who questioned my sanity for going up for a semi final. Not that I expect them to particularly care at all, I barely pay attention to their far larger top flight, but there is a definite sneering culture about it. 

That aside, the rest is also spot on. The league is happy for sky to give us just enough money to keep the lights on because they know fine well there is no market beyond Scotland.

The alternative (my preference but understand why it’ll never happen) is to detach completely from the rat race of trying to scrape an extra couple of crumbs from the table in the hope that one day it’ll grow through European participation or something else. That would involve a massive downsizing of the game most likely and the quality would drop but the only ‘quality’ we see is relatively good players scudding diddies week in week out. 

Take a completely different path, forget the tv money and cut your cloth accordingly. The old firm would want nothing to do with it, I would actually prefer to actually compete in a league with them but if they wanted to resign and f**k off then good luck to them. 

I guess the biggest problem really, is the only nation we actively try and promote our game to is England, which for several reasons, is never going to work. Instead we should perhaps look to tap into different markets, particularly those with Scottish expats. I know there is some coverage in the likes of the US, Australia etc. and I understand it might be pretty niche, but there's bound to be countries where it could catch on somewhat. Scotland is a country that's almost universally loved, and there are loads of people out there who love the British football culture.

It's a hard sell because ultimately, we're selling a product that isn't the EPL to people who perhaps only like the EPL. But somehow I feel you're more likely to appeal to foreign markets as opposed to England. We can promise the full 'British football experience' just sadly without the big money and big talent. Like I say, it's a hard sell, but I'm sure some marketing boffins out there could do it.