Eleven Sports as emerged as serious bidders for live coverage of Scottish football.
The broadcaster has emerged on the back of buying up UK and Irish rights to Spanish and Italian football and are interested in the next Scottish deal which starts in 2020.
According to the Daily Mail:
Founded by Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizziani, Eleven has risen to prominence this year by winning exclusive rights to show Serie A, La Liga and the US PGA Championship in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
And a source close to the broadcaster told Sportsmail they would not rule out a bid for the rights to the SPFL, branding it an ‘interesting property’.
Sky Sports and BT Sport currently share coverage of 60 matches for £21m a year which gives the Scottish game one of the worst deals in Europe.
Scottish football enjoyed competitive broadcasting deals from Sky Sports until 2002 when it attempted to set up SPL TV only to go running to the BBC for a £7m/year deal after knocking back £20m/year from Sky.
It took over a decade to get back to the £20m/year rate during which the income English clubs received from broadcasting went through the roof with the team finishing bottom of the EPL assured of £100m plus parachute payments.
The winners of the SPFL pick up less than £3m from broadcasting and commercial deals.
From 2020 an exclusive contract is on offer with the SPFL hoping to double the money brought in for live rights.
The last deal was negotiated by Neil Doncaster who previously agreed to PAY broadcasters to show Sevco matches from the lower divisions!
With Facebook and Amazon considering online options the arrival of Eleven Sports to stoke up an auction will be welcomed by clubs, supporters and viewers.
