Football's Magic Money Tree

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Fri Feb 28, 2020 1:18 am

This kind of thing is being done regularly now - club performance by expenditure - though Forbes have done this better than most I have ever seen - naturally Burnley are above average performers

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerpielk ... 678736372b

I would also caution that this is likely based on most recent published wages - so ours comes from the season before last when we all know huge bonuses were paid - Sheffield Utd's are based on what they paid in the Championship the season before last - Liverpool - as we have seen from figures published today - have seem a massive increase in wages paid to their players

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Fri Feb 28, 2020 1:31 pm

The Guardian gives us an update on Rui Pinto and Football Leaks - sounds like he has shed loads of information still to share

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... n-his-head

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Fri Feb 28, 2020 2:50 pm

Aston Villa have announce their financial results for their 2018/19 Promotion winning season

https://www.avfc.co.uk/News/2020/02/28/ ... villa-2019

just a £69m loss - though a lot of that is outside FFP because it comes as a promotion payment including £30m to former owner Randy Lerner

now we are just waiting for the detail - not sure when that will be

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Fri Feb 28, 2020 4:22 pm

Arsenal reveal their financial results for the 2018/19 season - they post a £27m loss - first loss since 2002 (Highbury days)

https://www.arsenal.com/news/financial-results-201819

I have been posting for a while about their financial problems - Not looking good for the Premier League is it

Full Accounts

https://www.arsenal.com/sites/default/f ... counts.pdf

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Fri Feb 28, 2020 4:26 pm

Interesting to note that both Arsenal and Liverpool had financial year ends that occurred before they finished their European campaign's last year - something they need to look at I feel as both sets of results have been affected adversely as a result

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Fri Feb 28, 2020 4:28 pm

Of course Arsenal's early exit from the Europa League and the possibility of no European football next season is not helping them turn things around either

https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/ ... s-17833827

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Fri Feb 28, 2020 6:46 pm

There are some strange shenanigans occurring with Investment vehicles for supposed Derby County future owner Henry Gabay

https://twitter.com/redfern_ian/status/ ... 1662980096

no doubt Mel is thinking - "almost, almost, but not quite"

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Fri Feb 28, 2020 7:28 pm

As the MLS gets ready for it's 25th season the burgeoning success story that it is now, nearly collapsed in it's early days - this lengthy BBC report reveals what happened

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/51667208

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sun Mar 01, 2020 12:10 pm

@KieranMaguire has a look at those 2018/19 Arsenal accounts

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 2880652289

I expect big Arsenal fan @SwissRamble to do much better with his view during the week

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sun Mar 01, 2020 12:16 pm

Shaun Harvey overseer of the EFL's "nothing to see hear" approach to Bolton, Bury and others such as Macclesfield and Southend still has enough front left to say he will apply for the top job in Irish Football

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer ... -1.4187161

it has provoked howls of derision across the social networks from English journo's and fans of EFL clubs - but then again the FAI's previous incumbent was perhaps the only senior administrator in the western European game more incompetent

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sun Mar 01, 2020 12:25 pm

The Independent try's to use today's League Cup final as the ultimate example of the what is wrong with modern football where 2 clubs that essentially used to exist in the same peer group are miles apart on and off the pitch

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foo ... 66846.html

My problem with this is it comes the day after Aston Villa announced it's 2018/19 financial results where it freely acknowledge that they ran up £69m losses in the Championship (and yes £45m of that was promotion related) together with the casual remark about the owners chucking £105m in share capital for the period. These same owners have chucked another £70m of share capital since then that we know of and overseen £143m of incoming transfers as well, which is a record level of spend for a newly promoted club to the Premier League

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sun Mar 01, 2020 12:38 pm

Meanwhile @OllieHolt22 in the Mail uses the news about the Premier Leagues announcement of a Hall of Fame to distill what he sees as wrong in the modern game

The Premier League's plan to create a Hall of Fame is just a gimmicky rip-off of a bad American idea that is superfluous in any sport that truly values its past
- Our game already has a Hall of Fame in Manchester's National Football Museum
- It is a construct borne out of American sport's obsession with categorising

By Oliver Holt for the Mail on Sunday - Published: 22:30, 29 February 2020 | Updated: 22:30, 29 February 2020

So the Premier League is planning a Hall of Fame. There is no news yet on how much it is going to cost to get in but put it this way, if you get to the front door and say 'Twenty's plenty', it may not be well received.

If, however, you say you are willing to take out a loan to pay the entrance fee and will be leveraging the debt, you can expect to be welcomed with open arms.

We don't know where it's going to be situated yet, either, but might I suggest Westfield in Stratford?

That way, David Gold can sell you a seat in it and say it's got a better view of the London Stadium than you would have had at Upton Park, Karren Brady can do guest slots on the tills because she hasn't got enough jobs already, and David Sullivan can make sure there's no shortage of stuff for the top shelves.

I'll wager that walking through it will be about as sanitised and soulless as passing through the Duty Free at Heathrow. Except instead of nice perfumes, the place will stink of prawn sandwiches.

If it's an authentic EPL experience, you'll be met by Mino Raiola as you walk in and he'll tell you the price just went up and if you want to stay longer, you had better put your hand in your pocket and, by the way, he's taking his cut, too.

If there are tour guides, they will walk around with their mobile phones pressed to their ear, refusing to make eye contact. The place will always be open at 3pm on a Saturday so that it doesn't clash with any matches.

And how comforting to know it is going to be bankrolled by a beer brand so you can get tanked up before you go in and scream insults when you're watching the action like a real fan at a match.

I'd put decent odds on Odion Ighalo being the first inductee. He's got Richard Arnold's vote for a start, although I would have paid decent money to see the expression on the Manchester United managing director's face last week when it was explained to him that Ighalo was the top trend on Twitter because fans were aghast they'd signed him.

Ighalo played in China for a while so if there's a waxwork of him, Dele Alli will probably post a Snapchat video and make a 'joke' about how it ought to wear a mask so he doesn't catch coronavirus off it. Maybe there will be specially trained guides who can help you write something insensitive on Twitter and then craft your own apology.

Maybe there will be an interactive section where you can shout racial abuse at Antonio Rudiger then deny it ever happened.

Maybe there will be a cardboard cut-out of Granit Xhaka with his head and his hands in the stocks. That way, Arsenal fans can boo him and gesture at him just like they liked to do at the Emirates when he was their captain.

Maybe there will be an Emmanuel Eboue robot, who weeps real tears just like he did when he was booed so mercilessly by his own supporters he was a substitute who had to be substituted. Cards on the table: I'd group 'Hall of Fame' in the same class as 'black tie dinner' in collections of three words that strike dread into me.

I'd rather spend a couple of hours wading through piles of remaindered tat at a crowded hellhole of a Sports Direct store where the staff shrug their shoulders at you and nothing's in stock. At least that way, it would be obvious you were giving money to Mike Ashley.

Whatever's in it, the basic problem with a Hall of Fame is it's a cheap, gimmicky rip-off of a bad American idea that is superfluous in any sport that truly values its past.

Second problem: our game already has a Hall of Fame. But it is in Manchester and there are players in it who grew up before PlayStation was invented so as far as the Premier League is concerned, it doesn't count. The Premier League has never had too many scruples about trying to obliterate anything that refers to a life that existed before English football's Year Zero of 1992.

It has destroyed plenty else that football used to stand for: a working man's game, affordable tickets, the FA Cup. So what's a Hall of Fame between friends?

What is really offensive about it is the Premier League part. The branding of it. The exclusivity of it. The exiling of every strata of football that is not the Premier League and every era of football that is not the Premier League to a wasteland. It is the attempt to strengthen the idea that the Premier League is shiny and new and everything before it is redundant and dull.

I don't like the idea of any Hall of Fame. It is an artificial construct borne out of American sport's obsession with cataloguing and categorising and commercialising. It enshrines numbers and statistics. It tells us who our heroes ought to be when we are perfectly capable of making our own choices.

At least in America, they know how to do it well. In the NFL Hall of Fame at Canton, Ohio, part of its mission statement is that it should 'honour the heroes of the game' and 'preserve its history'. Somehow, I don't think that is going to be happening in the Premier League Hall of Fame. Anyone who exists pre-1992 is not a hero. They're a non-person.

So do we get any mention of Kevin Keegan in the Premier League Hall of Fame? Presumably not. Or Bobby Moore? Or Sir Bobby Charlton? Or Colin Bell? Or Gary Lineker? Or Billy Bremner? Or Sir Tom Finney? Or Sir Stanley Matthews? Or so many of the heroes of our game who played before the great cut-off that has been perpetuated by the Premier League and its broadcast propagandists?

Will we be told about the real records in English football or just the ones that have been set after 1992? One small example: Thierry Henry is, quite rightly, one of the pin-up boys of the Premier League. He was a wonderful player, the fourth-highest scorer among those who have plied their trade in the top flight since 1992.

But his 175 goals doesn't even get him in the top 25 of top-flight English goalscorers. Neither does Sergio Aguero's 177. Not even close. Not above Denis Law or Geoff Hurst. Not above Tony Cottee or Ian Rush or Nat Lofthouse. Not even close to Charlie Buchan or Dixie Dean.

Not even half the top-flight goals scored by Jimmy Greaves. Only Alan Shearer, who would be my first pick for the PLHOF alongside Roy Keane, gets anywhere near.

But that doesn't fit the Premier League narrative. It doesn't fit the narrative that it's the best that football has ever been in this country. It doesn't fit the narrative that we've never had it so good.

It's a dishonest narrative and the Hall of Fame will seek to enshrine that dishonesty. That's why I'd rather spend an afternoon elsewhere, even Sports Direct.

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sun Mar 01, 2020 12:40 pm

While I am posting about the self perpetuating Premier League - try this from @AndyhHolt today, about the Premier League dictating EFL rules via financial means

https://twitter.com/AndyhHolt/status/12 ... 8716659712

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sun Mar 01, 2020 12:55 pm

of course @AndyhHolt has read the EFL's report into how they handled the Bury FC debacle (he is an EFL member after all) and cannot see how they should be absolved of their actions

https://twitter.com/AndyhHolt/status/12 ... 9763278850

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Mar 02, 2020 10:00 am

@SwissRamble deep dives into those Arsenal 2018/19 financial results - they really are falling behind on and off the pitch

https://twitter.com/SwissRamble/status/ ... 6316319749

the fall of Arsenal clearly depicted by @KieranMaguire

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 2935306240

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Mar 02, 2020 10:45 am

Monday means the Price of Football podcast questions - Blackpool, Charlton and my own hobby horse - the living wage - all feature (special mention for Crystal Palace who insist all outside companies who provide staff that work at the club must pay a London living wage - well done them)

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t ... 3ebf350e96

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Mar 02, 2020 10:58 am

A Bayern Ultra group respond to the criticism's they received this weekend for the tone of their protest against Hoffenheim owner Dietmar Hopp. as with most fan groups in Germany it is clear and to the point and shows that fans across the clubs are united in a vision for the way their game and clubs are run. That they are prepared to speak out and act in accordance with those beliefs with staunch unity is one of the things that they are most admired for

https://twitter.com/ftamsut/status/1234060545445302274

Note the use of specialist technology to pick out the voices of the protestors - this is a fearful and grossly unwarranted intrusion - not unlike the use of facial recognition technology that I have posted about on this thread before.

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Mar 02, 2020 11:26 am

Two weeks prior to announcing their impressive 2018/19 financial results last week, Liverpool took out a debenture loan with Nat West (probably to fund the development of the Anfield Rd end. I knew that Liverpool had bought a lot of property around Anfield of the years (as the club thought about redevelopment) but the stark clarity of it is laid bare in the charge document registered at Companies house. See Schedule 2 page 35 - 43

EDIT https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/comp ... ng-history

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Mar 02, 2020 11:34 am

Of course Liverpool were heavily lambasted at the time for the treatment of residents and deliberate attempts to run down the area to buy properties at a reduced value

https://www.theguardian.com/football/da ... david-conn

Articles and publicity like this saw a change in practice and now all activities in the area are actively engaging the community and adapting to feedback. Not necessarily the same for the training ground at Melwood which is soon to be vacated and has been sold to developers - provoking protest

https://www.thisisanfield.com/2019/08/s ... ng-ground/

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Mar 02, 2020 2:01 pm

Coventry are currently sitting atop League 1, but remain homeless and have a lot of debt - @KieranMaguire takes a look at their 2018/19 Financial results

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 8975596545

there but for the grace of God - a similar sized club to us who once looked settled in the Premier League - then struck out for the big time and lost more or less everything including solid stewardship from the owners

Tricky Trevor · Post by **Tricky Trevor** » Mon Mar 02, 2020 5:23 pm

Chester Perry wrote: ↑
Sun Mar 01, 2020 12:16 pm
but then again the FAI's previous incumbent was perhaps the only senior administrator in the western European game more incompetent

I can’t find incompetent in any thesaurus alongside corrupt.

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Mar 02, 2020 7:20 pm

More rubbing of hands in Premier League boardrooms as they gear up for the selling the next cycle of domestic tv rights - DAZN the OTT service that has been committing shed loads for sports rights around the world servicing specific territorial markets is to set up in the UK in the early summer and Premier League football is firmly on their radar

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... aunch-dazn

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Mar 02, 2020 7:22 pm

Tricky Trevor wrote: ↑
Mon Mar 02, 2020 5:23 pm
I can’t find incompetent in any thesaurus alongside corrupt.

to paraphrase a TV series I once enjoyed "you might think that, but I cannot possibly comment"

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Mar 02, 2020 7:39 pm

Earlier I posted about that Bayern Ultra protest at Hoffenheim - this Guardian article looks at that and the wider issue of the risk to the 50+1 rule and all the other protests about Dietmar Hopp this week

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... n-football

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Mar 02, 2020 11:27 pm

Ignoring all the other turmoil around them - Man City press on with their rival arena for the MEN

https://www.ft.com/content/7c133302-58b ... 0f971febbc

I posted before that CFG is about building business relationships not football and this is one of the more naked examples of it

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Mar 02, 2020 11:54 pm

John Nicholson reckons there is just too much football journalism - he is not wrong - and suggests that there will inevitably will be a culling

https://www.football365.com/news/footba ... -nicholson

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 12:05 am

I posted quite some time back about changes to tax laws that would be advantageous to Italian clubs - In that last year we have witnessed a huge influx of established names into Serie A - here the TaxingSport Blog looks at the trend

https://taxingsport.com/the-italian-job/

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 12:33 am

TIFO Football with a piece on the ending of the SportPesa Everton shirt sponsorship - no mention of the story about Everton not being paid, but plenty of hints about them struggling with cash flownn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJbWYi9Jkzk

ewanrob · Post by **ewanrob** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 9:25 am

Chester Perry wrote: ↑
Mon Mar 02, 2020 11:26 am
Two weeks prior to announcing their impressive 2018/19 financial results last week, Liverpool took out a debenture loan with Nat West (probably to fund the development of the Anfield Rd end. I knew that Liverpool had bought a lot of property around Anfield of the years (as the club thought about redevelopment) but the stark clarity of it is laid bare in the charge document registered at Companies house. See Schedule 2 page 35 - 43

https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/docu ... 8ad850a179

Cant open this one

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 11:08 am

ewanrob wrote: ↑
Tue Mar 03, 2020 9:25 am
Cant open this one

It worked for me yesterday - but changed it to the filing history page - the document addresses are ridiculously long

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/comp ... ng-history

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 11:14 am

Macclesfield fail to pay wages on time again - it could yet get them relegated

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/51713424

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 11:31 am

It is the Annual UEfA Congress in Amsterdam today - where much is under discussion about the future of the club game - it is likely to produce a rash of reports and over excited rhetoric

Here David Conn talks about the threat to the Champions League and Gianni Infantino's desire to usurp it's status as the preminent club competition in the world (he wants it's income and prestige for his own interests)

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... uperleague

- of course the man to watch is UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin - he has started with bang

https://twitter.com/tariqpanja/status/1 ... 2569097217

https://apnews.com/2428643369f2e56183678cfd6794b57b

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 11:40 am

Fresh from a last gasp effort to salvage a draw at lowly Middlesbrough - which served to reduce their already slim automatic promotion chances Nottingham Forest (wo have more Champions Leagues/European Cup wins than all the clubs in London combined and the same as Juventus) have released their 2018/19 financial results - @KieranMaguire has a look

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 4313419776

those sponsorship and advertising figures

so low despite the huge percentage increase - especially when compared with Leeds

the full accounts https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/docu ... b3f49c1d6b

Despite the heavy losses the club remain keen to keep within the Profit and Sustainability rules and claim to have the discipline to do so - though it never looks good when your Chief Financial Officer leaves the club the day before the financial results are announced

https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/not ... am-3904567

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 12:14 pm

Their were more protest about Dietmar Hoff (Hoffenheim owner) in last nights Bundesliga game - the Hannover 96 fans (remember those friendly folks) also decided to protest Red Bull Leipzig as well - they were playing Kiel (no I haven't heard of them either)

https://twitter.com/ftamsut/status/1234580508841009152

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 12:27 pm

@AndyhHolt had a massive rant about the way the pyramid is managed this morning

https://twitter.com/AndyhHolt/status/12 ... 5064824833

he was at the EFL meeting on last week - you know the one where they rejected the recommendations of the Governance review and said that the Bury review absolved them (both still to be publicly published btw - just checked)

https://twitter.com/AndyhHolt/status/12 ... 3178854401

so what was behind it all? - he wants to continue the development of the clubs infrastructure but cannot see the point as the EFL in his eyes are killing their own league

https://twitter.com/AndyhHolt/status/12 ... 5734877184

note also the input from Peterborough owner Darragh MacAnthony - he has been fighting the same battle just longer

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 12:39 pm

I have not posted about the impact of Covid19 yet on Football - but imagine the heartbreak in Liverpool if this season is erased from the records due to non completion - 4 more wins - Watford's delay of the seemingly inevitable could see them serenaded next time they play at Old Trafford if league football is abandoned.

The closed door option remains viable for the Premier League because of TV revenues (though would see dramatic falls in income for clubs that have large attendances and matchday sales. Further down the pyramid it could lead to the financial oblivion of many who are already overspending. Not forgetting the minefield of partial refunds for season ticket holders.

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 1:33 pm

A deeply thought provoking podcast on football's relationship with sexual violence (assisted by the media) prompted by recent allegations against Mario Balotelli from football Today

https://www.footballtodaypodcast.com/po ... lent-media

I posted in this thread about the Football Leaks Ronaldo claims at the time in this thread

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 6:10 pm

HMRC's investigation into the Tax Affairs of football only ever seem to get deeper and deeper

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/51698150

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 10:36 pm

Leicester City announce their 2018/19 financial results - another Premier League club announces a loss

https://www.lcfc.com/news/1634038/leice ... ss-release

Looks like it will be next week before we can look at the results in detail via Companies House

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 10:49 pm

In a surprising move the FA announced yesterday that 2 of this weeks 5th round games wold be streamed live on Facebook

http://www.thefa.com/news/2020/mar/02/f ... ies-020320

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 11:08 pm

I posted a piece on the subject of OTT saturation recently - especially when it comes to paying subscriptions for it - here is another such article from SportsBusiness.com soon to return behind a paywall

Mushrooming OTT market struggles under the weight of its own choice
Eric Fisher, US Editor - February 21, 2020

- Industry research suggests sharp consumer resistance to subscribing to more than three OTT services
- Churn expected to remain a serious industry issue
- Potential OTT service partnerships fraught with complexities

During a recent earnings call with analysts, Disney chairman and chief executive Bob Iger offered what couldn’t be called a humblebrag. It was basically just a brag.

“I was asked earlier on CNBC about where I felt threatened by competition, there’s obviously more competition coming into the space,” Iger said.

“But there isn’t any competition like ours, like our product, because of the investments that we’ve made in those franchises and the quality of the product that we’ve made over the years and we’re continuing to make.”

Iger did indeed have plenty of basis to crow about his company. Disney had just reported a set of stellar subscriber numbers for its suite of over-the-top streaming products: 28.6 million for its entertainment-focused Disney+ after just three months of operation; 30.7 million for Hulu; and 7.6 million for ESPN+, including a million-viewer bump in just a month’s time thanks, in part, to a Conor McGregor UFC bout.

Of course, it helps a lot to have at your disposal major content engines such as the Star Wars and Marvel franchises, a large suite of major television hits, and rights relationships with virtually every major sports property to help power those services.

But even high-profile entities such as Iger and Disney have to worry more about an increasing amount of OTT services, particularly within the US market, and the ability of the average consumer to handle – and pay for – all that choice.

As the quickly redefining media landscape moves more away from the traditional cable-led aggregated bundle of content and more toward a direct-to-consumer business model the OTT networks generally operate within, how that mushrooming choice is managed and consumed will speak volumes for not only the entire sports industry, but video content at large.

“It really is the great issue in the OTT space,” says Tom Richardson, president of digital media and marketing consultancy Convergence Sports & Media and a lecturer at Columbia University. “Customer acquisition is super-competitive right now. And it all goes back to the fundamental challenges of distributing content in this new era because nobody, even the big players, has everything.”

Research distributed last year by software and services provider Amdocs Media painted an even more sobering picture. In a survey of a thousand US consumers, more than a third – 39 per cent – said they felt “overwhelmed by the amount of streaming subscriptions they manage”, and want some type of a bundled solution with consolidated billing for their digital video content.

Nearly half – 46 per cent – said they plan to switch streaming plans in the next year, suggesting high amounts of churn within the industry yet to come. And price will be the prime driver of that churn, with just 22 per cent of respondents saying they are open to adding a new streaming service.

“Aggregators like telecom operators need flexible bundles that customers really crave, meaning they need to offer several – even dozens – of customizable options, and need to seize the initiative by taking a revised approach to building out these new flexible bundles,” says Ian Zeifman, product marketing lead with Amdocs Media. “This means taking a path that simplifies partner integrations, while also creating a frictionless, end-user experience that wins and retains customers.”

Subscription Fatigue
Seemingly every week, there is another high-profile announcement of a new OTT service, even just within sports. Nearly every major league, college conference, media network, and niche discipline now has their own dedicated streaming platform and, increasingly, individual teams are also getting into the act. And that’s to say nothing of broader entertainment-driven streaming vehicles, some of which also provide sports content as part of their offerings.

More recent data from Nielsen Media Research, like the Amdocs figures, have similarly suggested there is essentially a cap to what consumers will take on in streaming video subscriptions. More than 90 per cent of the consumers Nielsen surveyed subscribe to between zero and three paid streaming video services; beyond three, there was a sharp cutoff, with just 7 per cent having a fourth service, and only 3 per cent with a fifth.

For any streaming provider, that suggests a real need to be on consumers’ short lists, as the prospect of building a scalable business on being essentially a tack-on or non-core option is not particularly great.

YouTube TV includes live sports in its aggregated blend of linear TV channels, essentially a cable-like experience without having cable. Its executives describe a similar situation, wherein many of its customers also subscribe to one or two other streaming services, but very few have as many as three or four others.

“Many of our subscribers do subscribe to other services,” says Lori Conklin, YouTube TV head of content partnerships. “It’s often a situation where YouTube TV is their core service and then they have something else like Netflix or Disney+.”

Though the common industry term for this dynamic is subscription fatigue, the real issue may in fact lie closer to spending fatigue. For most consumers, there is always going to be a finite amount of funds for non-essential products, of which streaming video is one.

Complicating the issue still further is that for many evolving streaming services, first impressions among many consumers have already been made. DAZN, for example, is largely known for its large presence in fight sports, despite its available Major League Baseball, soccer, and esports content and publicly-stated efforts to expand into other sports. For that outlet, and many others, rebranding beyond their original value proposition, if they so choose, will be difficult.

“’Superficial judgments have already been in the mind of many regarding a lot of the streaming services,” Richardson says. “That presents some really big marketing challenges going forward.”

Reach versus revenue
So with all this resistance to taking on additional streaming subscriptions and consumers being overwhelmed with dealing the ones they already have, the simple question then presents itself as to why there have been more fervent efforts to combine OTT services, and make the disparate streamers look a bit more like a classic cable bundle?

There have been initial steps in this direction. Companies such as Amazon, Apple, and AT&T offer some ability to order multiple streaming services through one platform and ease purchasing processes for the consumer somewhat. But the choices on those platforms is certainly much less than the full scope of what’s available out on the open market, and often come with large fees and other restrictive contract terms for other OTT programmers that are not necessarily attractive compared to going it alone.

Then, of course, there is the thorny data component in terms of who owns the crucial customer relationship and the valuable information that spins off from that. In any joint arrangement between multiple streamers, such issues can be highly difficult to solve.

“We’ve explored some shared billing opportunities with others, but there are certainly some complexities around that,” Conklin says. “In any type of partnering situation, it needs to make financial sense.”

Then there is the classic reach-versus-revenue question. Particularly for smaller and start-up OTT services, partnering with a large third-party platform to help could certainly bring additional exposure and new eyeballs to the service. But paying hefty commissions to a larger entity such as Apple also cuts into revenue targets compared to acquiring customers independently, creating a business planning conundrum.

“There are a lot of entities, particularly sports leagues, that are always under pressure to take the revenue and make as much as they can,” says Richardson, who previously worked at both the National Football League and National Hockey League. “You think about league commissioners. Their mandate from ownership is to drive revenue. But taking the revenue like that can also limit your reach and your ability to reach casual fans.

“So looking ahead, anybody who has a frictionless way for that rebundling to happen is going to have a real advantage in the market.”

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Wed Mar 04, 2020 10:53 am

Cardiff announce their 2018/19 Financial results (a Premier League club that turned a miniscule profit) it is almost like they planned to go down and bounce back up - if that was the plan why abandon it so early this season.@KieranMaguire has a look - those wages show they actually did very well in comparison.

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 1115006977

Full accounts can be found here - https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/comp ... ng-history

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Wed Mar 04, 2020 11:00 am

Aston Villa's results - carefully announced last Friday so the negativity would be lost in the Euphoria of a cup final weekend - have been lodged at Companies House - @KieranMaguire has a look

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 6640073728

full accounts can be found here https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/comp ... ng-history

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Wed Mar 04, 2020 11:05 am

They are on the ball at Companies House - last night they were giving themselves 5 days to file and display Leicester 2018/19 Financial Accounts - this morning they are there it had been a busy morning for @KieranMaguire

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 0032947201

note the stadium valuation - it is newer than Pride Park and of a similar size - and had to keep up with all the latest UEFA/Premier League demands (it is a Champions League ground remember)

full accounts can be found here https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/comp ... ng-history

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Wed Mar 04, 2020 11:13 am

@SwissRamble looks at the work of Lee Hoos in bringing the costs of QPR under control by analysing their 2018/19 financial results

https://twitter.com/SwissRamble/status/ ... 4659654656

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Wed Mar 04, 2020 11:36 am

Excellent insight into the perils and madness resulting from owning an EFL club from @AndyhHolt this morning

https://twitter.com/AndyhHolt/status/12 ... 2806358016

much of this comes form taking over a club that has been on it's knees several times in the last 20 years - quick fixes and lack of maintenance always undermine the pursuit of stability and self sustainability (which is behind everything he is trying to do there) - he also wants them to do it on a sound commercial basis so they pay their on debt on commercial terms - that way they will not be used to be bailed out/over paying when he goes (which he plans to in the medium term when he has got them straight)

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Wed Mar 04, 2020 11:57 am

Things are starting to look truly dire now - Lawrence Bassini is negotiating to buy the club

https://twitter.com/MikeKeegan_DM/statu ... 7506153472

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Wed Mar 04, 2020 12:12 pm

The home of Jorge Mendes - the super agent and man behind all kinds of strange transfers and Wolves players/coaches (all documented on this thread) as had his home searched by police under a warrant based on a money laundering investigation

https://twitter.com/HLNinEngeland/statu ... 1780807681

the investigation involves most of the higher echelons of Portuguese football - clubs and administrative bodies involved. This is where Rui Pinto first got involved in his activities that lead to football leaks - he was sick of the corruption in Portuguese football. He is in a Portuguese jail at the moment and it is these same football people (currently being investigated) that have been the most vocal about the work he did and the punishment's he should be receiving

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Wed Mar 04, 2020 12:17 pm

Meanwhile we are still waiting for the EFL to publicly publish those reviews into their Governance and how they handled the Bury farce they told us had been read and discussed by members last week - no managing of impact to be seen here - though once the press does get hold of it - what if they don't reach the same conclusions as the EFL - this could backfire spectacularly.

No doubt the EFL were keen to focus discussion and media activities on the League Cup final and the League Trophy Final first - in that case why mention them in the first place

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Wed Mar 04, 2020 1:15 pm

This is a wonderful insight of life down the pyramid - part of a Dutch series about How to be a man - looking at Woking FC the only part time team in the National league

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkiQ2Wo ... e=youtu.be