New SPL TV deal – Good or bad for Scottish football?

by William Heaney

Not surprisingly, the news that Sky and ESPN have extended their deal to provide coverage of the SPL has been well received within the Scottish football community.

The two companies have been the league’s main broadcasting partners since 2009, when they came to the rescue after Setanta’s collapse.  The new contract is worth £80 million, includes 60 live games each season and begins in 2012/13, following the end of the current agreement.

SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster described the new deal as “excellent news for the clubs”.  His thoughts were echoed by St Mirren chairman Stewart Gilmour:

“For a club like St Mirren, the TV deal is a huge part of our income and this five-year deal is fantastic news.”

It’s hard to argue.  Like their counterparts in other small European leagues, Scottish clubs need broadcasting revenues not only as a means of strengthening, but also as an aid to survival.  The fact that two well-established networks are prepared to invest in the SPL until 2017 at the earliest provides peace of mind for the member clubs.

However, when the SPL hierarchy and club chairmen have finished patting each other on the back for a job well done, they may want to consider what encourages Sky and ESPN to cover Scotland’s top flight.

There are the obvious financial benefits via subscriptions and advertising.  Fans of the clubs involved will naturally be more inclined to sign up for any package which allows them to see more of their team in action.

Thousands of Celtic and Rangers fans know that the only way they will see live coverage of their teams’ matches – including their four league matches against each other – is on Sky and ESPN.  Given the fanaticism that exists in Scotland and beyond for the big two, the TV networks know they have a captive audience – some people would watch two cockroaches racing across the floor provided one was painted green and the other blue.

However, what attracts the neutral?  Why would armchair fans from other parts of the UK, with no allegiance to a Scottish club, tune in for an SPL match?

It’s not for the standard of football, with the league no longer home to players of the calibre of Henrik Larsson or Giovanni Van Bronckhorst.  There’s hardly a feel-good factor around the Scottish game either – the national side have once again failed to qualify for an international tournament and the recent record of clubs in European competition is abysmal.

More likely, the appetite for Scottish football – or more specifically for Celtic and Rangers, because that’s who Sky and ESPN really want to cover – comes from the drama that ran alongside the football last season.

It’s hard to forget Neil Lennon and Ally McCoist’s post-match dugout ‘discussion’ following the Scottish Cup replay (also covered by Sky) last March. That same night Rangers had three players sent-off as discipline and professionalism went out of the window.  This match followed on from a 2-2 draw at Ibrox where Scott Brown celebrated his goal by taunting El Hadji Diouf after the pair had engaged in a running battle for much of the contest.

Then of course there was the Dougie McDonald penalty-decision fiasco at Tannadice which led to the nation’s top referees taking industrial action.

None of these incidents were good for football, but they all made for good TV.  So anyone who considers the extended TV deal to be a vindication of the product offered by the SPL, should perhaps think again.

You may also be interested in: Players to watch in Scotland in 2011/2012.

William Heaney is a Scottish football correspondent for Just Football and can also be found at his own blog Football Futbol Fitba.

(photo credit: alongfortheride on Flickr under Creative Commons License)

Football and Finance, Scotland, Scottish Premier League