Finance Expert reacts as EFL blackout end could affect West Brom
We’re delighted to welcome football finance expert Dr Daniel Plumley as our exclusive West Brom columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at The Hawthorns...
Dan Plumley has insisted that the EFL ending the Saturday 3 pm blackout could see an upswing in a windfall for all of its clubs, including West Brom.
The Finance Expert admitted that the current deal could rise, despite being worth £595million from Sky, as other potential parties could enter the bidding market.
It comes after reports that the EFL are putting out invitations for new bidders, including the likes of Amazon and Netflix with change to come in from the 2024-25 season [The News].
“I think you would likely see an upswing,” he exclusively told West Brom News.
“How big an upswing is the question mark and why the EFL are wanting to test the water? The current deal is £119million a year, a five-year deal, so it’s £595million, so those are the figures.
“You’re looking for an uplit on that, the way it could go both ways with that is if you’re looking at Sky, they have held a monopoly over EFL rights, and the EFL have been quite reliant on Sky. If you bring in other people into the mix, it removes that reliance and that could drive up the price as you have more people in the market bidding for more games.
“The slight worry is if you’re carving that price among different people, does it just get diluted to an amount that is currently there. The opening up of more games would drive the market up so whichever way you cut it and whoever comes into the mix, you would likely see an upswing on the current value of the deal.”
Wow, this would be absolutely huge.
Inviting new bidders and with more games available, could even take the TV deals and windfalls much closer to the huge figures going to the Premier League clubs.
Of course, it may see matchday revenue drop when things aren’t going as well, as of right now for the Baggies, but some stability with more windfall from the EFL could cover that.
This is certainly one to watch.