Exclusive: Top-of-the-table clash faces blackout after Celtic turn down Premier Sports deal
CELTIC has pulled out of an SPFL contract that will give subscription channel Premier Sports the rights to 20 live Scottish Premiership matches.
And the move has ensured that any top-of-the-table prospects against Aberdeen at Parkhead on Saturday will be on live television for a week.
Sky Sports secured the rights to 60 live matches per season, from Scotland’s top flight until 2029.
Sky is limited to five visits per season to each field. Sky have already been to Parkhead twice and selected the upcoming matches in early September – before Aberdeen’s 13-match winning run gained momentum.
Celtic have opted out of the SPFL’s TV deal, allowing Premier Sports to show 20 matches
Premier Sports will show 20 SPFL Premiership matches this season, but none from Celtic Park
An agreement to sell a secondary package to Premier gave the Irish broadcaster the right to broadcast up to two additional matches from each Premiership stadium. And raised the hope that more showpieces would be shown live in the SPFL.
Celtic offered £75,000 for each additional home match – and a maximum payment of £150,000 for two – and were reluctant to inconvenience season ticket holders and home fans traveling from further afield by moving more Saturday kick-offs from 3pm to a later time. The club declined to comment last night.
As part of their agreed deal until 2029, Sky retained the first option of two further bundles of 10 SPFL games for a fee of £4 million each from this season. When Sky refused to take up the option, they were thrown onto the market. And while the deal with Premier falls well short of the figures agreed with Sky, eleven of the twelve clubs voted to take the money anyway, with league sources citing a desire to grow audiences and provide more live matches, such as the Dundee and Edinburgh derbies, than last season.
Celtic’s decision marks the second time one of the biggest clubs has turned its back on a collective commercial agreement, a long-running dispute between the SPFL, Rangers and Park’s Motor Group over a title sponsorship that was finally resolved last year after an apology and payment of compensation to the Ibrox club.
Neil Doncaster, the league’s chief executive, was keen to strike a balance between broadcasting more live matches and maintaining the highest per capita attendance in Europe. He described the Premier deal as ‘great news for SPFL clubs and supporters alike’.
‘Up to 80 Premiership matches will be broadcast live on Sky Sports and Premier Sports next season. This will be the highest number of live matches ever broadcast from the Scottish Premiership,” he added.
Meanwhile, discussions between broadcasters and Viaplay about live coverage of Scotland’s Nations League double header against Croatia and Portugal continue.
The Scandinavian subscription channel currently has the rights to broadcast all international qualifying tournaments involving Steve Clarke’s team until 2028.
Despite withdrawing from the UK market last year, negotiations with Premier Sports, BBC Scotland and ITV to sub-license the rights to the upcoming double header have so far failed to reach an agreement.