FootBiz newsletter #26: changes at the Premier League, plus Real Madrid's Apple talks

So as we stand today, the hearing into the 115 charges (which is actually 130 because the Premier League made an error in originally reporting them) against Manchester City has entered week 10.

Why is that significant? Well, the early reporting before it began was that this was expected to last about 10 weeks. While the absence of leaks has been notable, one tiny little whisper that did squeak out during all this suggested that the hearing may even be over a little early.

In which case, we could already be done. But now we wait.

There has only ever been vague guidance on when we might hear what happened behind the closed doors of the International Dispute Resolution Centre on Paternoster Lane, so it is likely to suddenly fall in our laps one day. Much like the result of the summer’s Associated Party Transaction rules hearing did in early October.

Make no mistake, though. This is a hearing of far greater consequence than the tweaking of some sponsorship rules.

In the interim, the Premier League has a little bit of good news to share about its international TV rights in a number of key markets. They have also made a big call on the media side by parting ways with one of their longest-serving (and most involved) partners.

Beyond that; the Club World Cup got a sponsor, Chelsea still don’t and there are some other bits and bobs.

Table of Contents

• Overseas rights boom (again)

• PL Media goes in-house

• Club World Cupdate

• Virtual Real(ity)

• Blank is the colour

• PL PE drying up?

• Ronaldo for president

• FIFA disciplinary cases on hold

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Overseas rights boom (again)

It is unlikely to have been a coincidence that the Premier League chose last Friday to inform its clubs of recently-agreed overseas TV deals that will swell their coffers considerably from next year. 

As SportBusiness reported yesterday, new contracts in China, India, Latin America and the Caribbean will take the Premier League's overseas broadcast revenue to £6.5 billion between 2025 and 2028. This 23 per cent increase on the existing deals will give the clubs projected income of £12.25bn, when domestic rights and commercial revenue are also included.

The significance of this growth is two-fold, which will not have been lost on the clubs, particularly on a day which began with the Premier League defeating a rebellion by Manchester City and Aston Villa over the competition's Associated Party Transaction rules, amendments to which were passed by 16 votes to four. While the Premier League's governance and regulatory systems have been widely criticised by many clubs, its commercial and broadcasting arms continue to deliver them unparalleled riches, as well as increasing their competitive advantage over the rest of Europe.

For all the complaints that APT regulations and Profit and Sustainability Rules are holding clubs back, and artificially reducing their transfer spending, the reality is that the Premier League continues to move away from their competitors. 

The huge growth in the value of the Premier League's overseas TV deals has widened the existing chasm in the global television earned by other leagues: second-placed La Liga are bringing in around £750m-a-year, Serie A £600m, the Bundesliga £170m, and France’s Ligue 1 just £130m after bungling their rights negotiations this year.

For all the Premier League's problems, in real and relative financial terms, the clubs have never had it so good.

PL Media goes in-house

As part of that meeting, the Premier League’s long-standing deal with media giant IMG to produce their content is also over, with the league’s owners voting unanimously to take production in-house from the 2026/27 season.

It is a significant step in the Premier League’s evolution, with IMG currently producing some 6,000+ hours of content every season for international broadcasters, including all 380 live matches and bucketloads of ‘shoulder’ content including historical, fantasy football and magazine shows.

55 broadcasters in 189 international markets get that content as part of buying rights from the league, and while they have nearly two years to prepare for it, this is no small undertaking from the league.

For a long time, I have wondered why the Premier League hadn’t followed the example of NFL Network, having an always-on news and content operation built around their league. NFL Media’s enormous, multi-faceted business has been a huge part of the league’s growth, and the owners understand that having NFL Network insiders breaking stories about your club is a small price to pay for near-constant visibility in the media landscape.

The league could decide to look internally for someone to lead such a significant content business, but interestingly one of the obvious candidates to do so based on their experience and relationships was already on the press release for the announcement that IMG and the PL would be parting ways: Barney Francis, former head of Sky Sports and now IMG’s EVP, Studios.

Club World Cupdate

We’ve highlighted the struggles that the Club World Cup has had with attracting partners after telling FIFA’s existing partners their deal wouldn’t cover the new, expanded tournament.

So it’s only fair that we tell you when they do announce sponsors.

ABInbev, the makers of Budweiser, Michelob Ultra and a raft of other beverages have “joined the thrill ahead of a new era in global club football starting next year in the USA by expanding their partnership with FIFA and becoming an Official Beer Partner for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™” according to a FIFA press release.

Now we wait to see which other brands join the thrill ahead of June’s competition.

Virtual Real(ity)

The expansion and renovation of Real Madrid’s Bernabeu stadium has been littered with issues, but Florentino Perez’s solution for everything is bigger than the ground they play in.

Madrid’s longtime president took the opportunity to spell out his vision for the future of matches at the Bernabeu during the club’s general assembly last week, and he confirmed the club is already in discussions with Apple over expanding the capacity of the stadium from around 80,000 fans to… infinite.

“Everybody wants to come to the Santiago Bernabeu, and that is why we are negotiating with Apple so you can put on a pair of glasses and watch the game as if you were in the Stadium.

“It will be an infinite Bernabeu” he said.

A number of elite clubs have started discussing the idea of selling virtual tickets to fans, who can ‘attend’ virtually either via wearable technology or at sports bars like Cosm, an expanding chain of huge-screened venues that went viral for their offering (above).

Blank is the colour

Elsewhere in sponsorship news, Chelsea's failure to secure a shirt sponsorship this season has already cost them tens of millions of pounds of revenue - based on their own projections last summer.

Club executives valued their front-of-shirt deal at around £60 million-a-year, but the market does not appear to have agreed and after almost four months of the season Enzo Maresca's players are still wearing playing in shirt devoid of primary branding.

Chelsea have held talks with several global brands, including Qatar Airways and Riyadh Air, but have yet to reach an agreement. In addition to Chelsea's high valuation the club's absence from the Champions League for a second successive season has also been a major factor in their failure to land a deal, with Thursday night games in the Europa Conference League having little appeal for sponsors.

Chelsea also started last season without a shirt sponsor before agreeing a one-year deal with Infinite Athlete on 30 September. The AI company agreed to become the club's training kit sponsor for this season however, with Chelsea aiming to secure a more lucrative front-of-shirt deal that has yet to materialise.

A number of Chelsea's senior executives have departed the club, with chief executive Chris Jurasek and president of business Tom Glick both leaving Stamford Bridge after little over a year at the club in recent months. 

The new regime at Chelsea is headed by president and chief operating officer Jason Gannon, who was Jurasek's deputy, chief revenue officer Casper Stylsvig and president of commercial Todd Kine, who joined the club from a similar role at Tottenham last month.

PL PE drying up?

Just a snippet from a conversation recently that didn’t necessarily fit with any particular story but could be a trend worth following.

One financial figure who had been involved in bringing family offices and other funds together to fund Premier League transactions says interest has dried up a bit, and not because of competition from France, Spain or Italy.

Now that the NFL and NBA are allowing Private Equity investments into their franchises, there has been a conscious turn inward from those big firms to look at opportunities in the US.

The NFL has only accredited a small number of groups to buy stakes in teams, and they can only own stakes in a maximum of 6 teams of 3-10% in any one team with no decision-making, governance or voting rights. As they are not on the approved list, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and endowments can not invest. These rules are far stricter than other leagues owing to the intense demand and the NFL’s fondness for control.

It has allowed the more hereditary owners, like Mark Davis at the Las Vegas Raiders, to cash in on some of their paper wealth while relinquishing no control over team matters. Davis has already sold 10% to a group including Tom Brady and now is set to sell a further 15% stake in the team that he inherited from his father. Deals have been reached with two separate bidders, each for 7.5% of the franchise, one from co-chief executive of PE firm Silver Lake, Egon Durban, and the other from the Discovery Land real estate company founder Michael Meldman.

Elsewhere in the NFL, PE giants Arctos Partners are buying 10% of the Buffalo Bills to add to their stakes in 23 other sports teams. Most notable among those teams; Paris Saint-Germain, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Golden State Warriors.

With an NFL investment the closest thing you can get to a cash machine in sports, it seems as if the high-end money will be scoping out and filling any allocations that American football has to offer before the money starts flowing back to the Premier League.

The NBA and other American leagues have fewer restrictions on who can invest than the National Football League, but are not quite the same level of money printer as the Roger Goodell-led NFL.

Ronaldo for president

Ronaldo (the original one) has finally admitted what the market has known for a while, that he is keen to sell La Liga outfit Real Valladolid as he seeks the presidency of the Brazilian Football Federation (CBF).

The 48-year-old bought 51% of the club for €30m in 2018 but will have to take a loss on his stake, with an acknowledgement that his up-and-down time as owner is over.

While the club has bounced between La Liga and Spain’s second tier, off the pitch Ronaldo has endured frustrations with local government over the stadium while fans have been irritated by a perceived disinterest on the part of the former Real Madrid striker and are now closer to disillusionment.

Ronaldo was also part-owner of Cruzeiro until April this year when he sold his stake, understood to be a prelude to his bid for the CBF presidency.

“For years, I have been talking about my idea of being CBF president. That has not changed,” Ronaldo said at a charity auction.

“We wait for the right moment but I am extremely prepared. Brazilian football needs big changes.”

The next CBF election is due in early 2025.

FIFA disciplinary cases on hold

This may only be of interest to lawyers, but there are plenty of them among our readership and thus it would be remiss to ignore the story coming out of FIFA today - and brought to our attention by Georgi Gradev.

Essentially, FIFA has put a pause on all judgements in player/coach/club disputes until their post-Diarra consultation is over. Defeat in that case was the latest in a number of examples where sports governing bodies were judged to have overreached and so everything is on ice until they’ve worked out what the rules will look like going forwards.

More on this on Thursday.