PREMIER LEAGUE clubs have never had it so good thanks to the current TV cash windfall.
But it looks as if the £8.3billion the Prem received from selling the rights worldwide in a three-year deal may prove to be the peak.
Thanks to that mega contract, it is not just the likes of
Manchester United,
Manchester City,
Chelsea and
Arsenal that will be appearing in the top 50 of football club rich lists.
Even if
Sunderland fail to lift themselves off the bottom of the league,
they will trouser £100million at the end of the season.
But fears that the Premier League money bubble is about to burst have been heightened by dwindling TV ratings.
Sky Sports Super Sunday’s numbers for the opening eight games this season have been anything but super.
The flagship 4pm kick-off has seen audience figures drop to an average of 1.03million – down 19 per cent on last term’s figures and a huge 39 per cent on the peak figure of 1.68million in 2011-12.
Back then, in the season when
Manchester City’s Sergio Agueroooo scored an injury time goal to dramatically snatch the title from United, Sky were paying £4.7million per game.
The figure now, to see games like United snatching a goalless draw at Liverpool, is £11.07million.
Last year Sky and BT combined to pay a record £5.1bn (Sky paid £4.17bn) to screen live coverage of the Premier League.
Worldwide rights holders coughed up another £3.2bn between them.
But it does not look like they have enjoyed a soaring success either.
NBC Sports, who doubled what they pay for rights to £1billion last year, have seen their Premier League ratings dwindle by 17 per cent.
Sky argue that the figures do not show viewers on their NOW TV subscription channel or Sky Go mobile package.
Competition from this summer’s
Olympic Games has been put forward as a possible reason for the drop in numbers.
Barney Francis, managing director of Sky Sports, told Bloomberg: “There are of course a number of factors which affect short-term year-on-year viewing trends, with the Olympics this season being a good example.
"But what is important is we have seen growth in viewing across domestic football and our whole sport portfolio year on year.
"While the data doesn’t reflect the total picture, what we see at Sky is even greater audiences engaging in the way that suits them best."
