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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Liam Bryce

James Bisgrove insists Rangers windfall from Celtic friendly will match ENTIRE SPFL season's revenue

Commercial director James Bisgrove insists Rangers will rake in as much cash in eight days Down Under as they would from an entire Premiership season.

The Ibrox side have signed up for the Sydney Super Cup in November, where they will face rivals Celtic outside Glasgow for the first time ever.

Both clubs have faced a fan backlash for accepting an invite to the mini-tournament, which will also feature A-League outfits Sydney FC and West Sydney Wanderers.

But Bisgrove is adamant it's a financial no-brainer.

(SNS Group)

Rangers managing director Stewart Robertson has previously slammed the Sky Sports TV deal for Scottish football, which banks the club around £3million-per-year.

And Bisgrove told Rangers TV: “We’ve been in negotiations for a few weeks and to be frank it’s of a sizeable benefit to the club from a commercial perspective, to an extent we’ve never had an offer of this level for two friendly games.

"To put some context around this, we’ve spoken before and Stewart Robertson has spoken before about the broadcast and media values here in Scotland and the club’s view on that has been well documented.

“The participation in this event over eight days will benefit the club to the same level as an entire season in the SPFL for two friendly games."

Bisgrove revealed the Rangers board were united in approving the decision.

He said: “It’s something the board have unanimously seen as a positive opportunity for Rangers. We talk about wanting to maximise the potential of this club.

"We felt this was an opportunity to achieve that ambition. We feel this season we can realise a very high commercial revenue target. I spoke at the AGM about the target of £29million which is far higher than we have ever achieved before."

Rangers and Celtic have faced criticism from supporters over taking the fixture out of Glasgow.

But Bisgrove was keen to up the Govan club's global fanbase and maintained it's the right decision to connect with supporters overseas.

He added: “We have a huge, huge fanbase. We recognise the international aspect of that is something that should be celebrated.

"We see from various data points that Australasia, the Far East, the Middle East, North America – right across the world – there are Rangers fans that wake up in the day and the night to follow this team.

"To be at a place again where we can go and connect with that fanbase. One of our biggest supporters’ clubs is in Australia so we want to take the first team there.”

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