Premier League clubs must use their record-breaking television revenues to make matchday attendance more affordable for fans, the Football Supporters’ Association has said.
The league announced domestic media rights sales worth £6.7billion on Monday for the four seasons starting in 2025-26, with the live rights increasing in value by four per cent within that to £6.406bn compared to the current cycle.
The league described the deal as “the largest sports media rights deals ever concluded in the UK”.
That increase in value has been achieved by selling even more games for live coverage – up to 270 of the 380 games per season from 2025-26 compared to 200 a season in the current cycle.
FSA chair Malcolm Clarke says this will create a “massive headache” for match-going fans and wants top-flight clubs to think creatively about how they can reward the supporters who generate the atmosphere which league bosses acknowledge is one of the competition’s most attractive qualities.
“The new TV deal will have a huge impact on match-goers with fewer fixtures than ever played on Saturday at 3pm – it’s a massive headache for supporters trying to get to and from games at unsociable hours,” Clarke said in a statement issued to the PA news agency.
“Broadcasters have almost absolute power in dictating kick-off times, often to the detriment of supporters, and we want to see top-flight clubs and the Premier League doing a lot more for supporters with the money generated.
“Premier League chief executive Richard Masters says this deal is a testament to players, managers and supporters who create ‘an unrivalled atmosphere every week’ – so let’s make sure supporters are rewarded with affordable football home and away at every club.”
Premier League clubs voted in June 2022 to maintain the £30 cap on away tickets for the next three seasons, meaning any change in the cap would come into force in the first season of the new domestic TV cycle.
Clarke also called for “far more equitable distribution” of the Premier League’s income throughout the football pyramid to “protect both the grassroots of the game and our historic football clubs who play such a vital role in our communities”.
Talks are ongoing between the Premier League, the English Football League and the Football Association about the ‘New Deal For Football’, essentially an agreement on how television revenue should be distributed down the pyramid in the future.
The deal will also cover new cost control measures as the professional game prepares for the arrival of an independent regulator, plus changes to the domestic calendar to balance the increased demands from international club competitions such as the expanded Champions League and Club World Cup.
The Premier League’s handling of its latest domestic rights sale has been declared a success by Francois Godard, a senior media and telecoms analyst at Enders Analysis.
“I think it’s a good deal because prices for rights are flat across Europe, or declining,” Godard told PA.
“The important thing is to maintain the gap between the money they earn and the money earned by the closest (rival) continentally, Spain’s LaLiga.”
Godard felt the structure of the deal – spread over four years instead of the traditional three years and with two fewer packages on offer – suited the largest incumbent rights holders Sky Sports, which he feels has a symbiotic relationship with the league.
“Sky need the Premier League. It’s their best and most valuable content,” Godard added.
“I see this from a continental point of view. Sky understands that the value of the Premier League depends on how much they pay. If they pay less they will undermine the value at some point.
“Of course it could have paid three per cent less, OK, but they understand the Premier League needs to secure a higher revenue to deliver this fantastic competition.
“I say that because I see that, in some continental markets, the incumbent only thinks of saving money, whereas saving money is undermining the value of what you get.”
Sky Sports secured four of the five packages – the most any single broadcaster was allowed to buy – with TNT securing the fifth which retains their right to broadcast 52 matches a season with the primary kick-off slot of Saturday 12.30pm.
It is understood that the make-up of the packages, and the difficulty in exploiting a premium, high-volume model within its Prime subscription service, was the reason for Amazon’s decision not to bid.
It has held the rights to 20 games per season since 2019, and last year secured the UK rights to screen 17 first-pick Champions League matches on a Tuesday night for three seasons from 2024-25.
Streaming service DAZN had publicly said it would look at the Premier League rights but did not secure any of the packages. DAZN has been contacted for comment.
Fulham 2-1 Brentford: Wilson's late brace seals comeback win
Harry Wilson scored twice in stoppage time as Fulham came back to beat Brentford 2-1 in an enthralling West London derby.
Wilson was the hero from Fulham's bench on Monday, as Marco Silva's team – who were on the wrong end of a late comeback against Everton last time out in the Premier League – salvaged a victory from the jaws of defeat.
Fulham will feel it was a win they earned from a match they dominated from the off, with the Bees having taken the lead against the run of play through Vitaly Janelt's stunning 24th-minute strike.
But the Fulham pressure finally told when Wilson rose high to flick in his first in the 92nd minute, and – after Bernd Leno made a superb stop to thwart Brentford at the other end – the former Liverpool midfielder nodded in again to send Craven Cottage into raptures.
Fulham's win takes them up into ninth, while Brentford drop to 12th after suffering a fifth league loss of the season.
Data Debrief: Super-sub Wilson to the rescue
Fulham will feel they deserved to come away from that match with three points, having had 26 shots, 12 of which were on target, in an incredibly dominant display.
They also had 46 touches in the opposition box compared to Brentford's nine, but they could not make those count, at least until Wilson's late intervention as he finally broke through Brentford's stubborn defence.
The Welshman scored with both of his shots on target, having three attempts overall, with his goals coming from a combined 0.19 expected goals.
The Bees looked sure to get a first away win, and first clean sheet, of the Premier League season until their late lapse in concentration, and they have now dropped 14 points from winning positions in the competition this season, more than any other team.
Neymar suffers fresh injury blow
Neymar sustained a new injury as he was forced off during Al-Hilal's AFC Champions League Elite win over Esteghlal.
Aleksandar Mitrovic plundered a hat-trick on Monday to seal a 3-0 win.
But Al-Hilal's victory was soured by an injury to Neymar, who had to make way just 29 minutes after he came on as a second-half substitute.
The Brazilian, who has just returned from over a year out of action following a serious knee injury, was forced off with what appeared to be a thigh issue.
Indeed, Monday's appearance was only the 32-year-old's second for Al-Hilal since his comeback.
He has featured just seven times for the Saudi Pro League champions in all competitions since his big-money move from Paris Saint-Germain in 2023.
Rodgers delighted as Celtic rout Aberdeen in semi-final
Celtic booked their place in the Scottish League Cup final after hammering Aberdeen 6-0 at Hampden Park on Saturday.
The 21-time winners of the tournament were inspired by a Daizen Maeda hat-trick in a near-perfect performance against the Scottish Premiership's second-placed side.
Manager Brendan Rodgers was delighted with the result and performance from his side.
"It was a testament to our players and the demands they have. They play every week in big games. We have to manage this group through every game," he told Premier Sports.
"It was up to us to decide the game and the players did that. They were brilliant today. We were more aggressive in the second half.
"Aberdeen have had an excellent season, they will continue to work well I'm sure."
The result was Aberdeen's first defeat in 17 matches in all competitions this season, with a 2-2 draw at Celtic Park last month the only time they had previously failed to win.
Cameron Carter-Vickers got the scoring under way with a header 29 minutes in, before the brilliant Maeda sat down goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov to set up Kyogo Furuhashi for a second three minutes later.
Maeda then got in on the act himself on 40 minutes before the game briefly descended into farce on the stroke of half-time, with Rodgers shown a yellow card for kicking away a ball that had gone out before slipping over.
"To be fair, I was raging because we had given the ball away," he said.
"I have my moments, like every manager. It was just the game, even though we were comfortable at 3-0.
"It was a deserved yellow card. The speed of the ball [was the issue]. I just wanted to keep the tempo of the game."
Celtic and Maeda picked up where they left off in the second half to make it 4-0 in the 50th minute before Nicolas Kuhn hammered in a fifth on the hour.
The rout was complete when Maeda wrapped up his hat-trick as he finished off a flowing attacking move with five minutes to go.
After the match, Rodgers continued to be effusive about his team, who will face either Rangers or Motherwell in the final.
"An outstanding team performance. You come up against a team that has been so, so good. We knew it would be a challenge," he told BBC Scotland.
"We had to bring our A-game and the players did that, in particular during the second half.
"We were ruthless. We worked the ball really well to create the space and made good runs.
"It's a beautiful pitch here at Hampden. It's perfect for the football we want to play."
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