Rangers chief Stewart Robertson believes Scottish clubs are being hampered in Europe by the gulf in value of TV deals to many of their rivals as he again aimed a blast at SPFL chiefs for “underselling Scottish football”. The Ibrox club refused to give their backing for a new £30 million a year Scottish Premiership deal which would see current broadcaster Sky Sports continue to show top flight games until 2029.
The Light Blues were the only one of the dozen top flight clubs not to give the green light to an agreement that would see Sky’s live match package from 48 games to 60 games from season 2024/25 - and are willing to increase their annual payments from £24m to £30m by season 2028/29.
But Robertson revealed his concerns over the deal in an interview with the Rangers Review, saying: “My problem is we haven't gone and sold it. We haven't sold it whatsoever. That's no secret. I've been reasonably vocal about it when I was on the SPFL board. James and I made the point when this new deal was presented to the clubs.
“The one that really stuck with me was Malmo. Their TV deal was more than double the Scottish TV deal. You sit with Ajax and Napoli and they are all receiving far more from their TV and sponsorship deals and their league commercial deals as a whole.
“It put Scottish clubs at a disadvantage when you are playing other European clubs because you know they are all taking bigger sums out of their leagues and TV deals than we can. To highlight the extent of the challenge facing us soon, Liverpool received £151m from the Premier League last season for finishing second and we received £2.7m from the SPFL for finishing second.
“I don't think we sell it. We just go along and nudge it up a little bit. This is no criticism of Sky who are a good partner for Scottish football. We didn't market-test this deal. We have no idea what else is available in the market so we don't know whether it's the best deal or not. There's an advisor the SPFL have used and he's telling us all the reasons why he thinks it's a good deal.
“We have contacts with other organisations. James Bisgrove worked with a company who are negotiating the deals for the Champions League and the Europa League for the next cycle. We get market feedback from there that doesn't really hang together with the other stuff we are being told. Without breaching any confidences, I still think we are underselling Scottish football. I get frustrated by it.”
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