New £5.136bn Premier League TV deal

[Rudy Can't Fail]

It can only magnify the search for a great manager, nevermind a decent one.

[Ad@m]

One of the main reasons I didn't renew this season were KO times being messed around with for Sky wankers. So adding Friday games  pretty much guarantees no ST for me next season either. Or for the foreseeable future.

Sunday nights will appear in the next round.  I can't remember which one it was but when the bidding started for this round one of the TV companies said (words to the effect) that the Premier League were being tight in releasing games because there were only about half the Premier League games on TV at the moment.  As a result the Premier League should create a Sunday night slot so that another 30-odd games could be put on TV.

Insane.  Every single game will be on TV in the future, then the match-going fans really will become mere extras in a TV show.

[Boz]

The club should be able to lower ticket prices then as Villa Park will look ridiculous being half empty and beamed around the world to the global audience.

This assumes we are still in the Premiership

[Steve67]

Great, more incentive for Randy to stay!! Hopefully he now sees the value in getting rid of Lambert, financially if not on results.

[Damo70]

Can't see this carrying on for much longer.

We should be pocketing a lot of the money ready to 'go again' for when it all falls down like a pack of cards.

We've been saying that since about 1995.

It was Doug's master plan wasn't it? We were going to be solvent when everyone else went bust.

[kippaxvilla2]

If I read that correctly - BT have agreed to pay £960m for 136 games at a mere £7,058m per game.  How ludicrous.

[Damo70]

If I read that correctly - BT have agreed to pay £960m for 136 games at a mere £7,058m per game.  How ludicrous.

If I heard/understood right the whole thing worked out to ten million a game. Like you, I was thinking I must have misheard or misunderstood.

[Ad@m]

If I read that correctly - BT have agreed to pay £960m for 136 games at a mere £7,058m per game.  How ludicrous.

Work out what Sky have paid per game - it'll make your eyes water!

[dicedlam]

Sadly, most of the increase will be headed in the direction of agents and player salaries.

[kippaxvilla2]

If I read that correctly - BT have agreed to pay £960m for 136 games at a mere £7,058m per game.  How ludicrous.

If I heard/understood right the whole thing worked out to ten million a game. Like you, I was thinking I must have misheard or misunderstood.

Let's put it in even more context.  Either £7m or £10m for Burnley v West Brom type fixtures.

[PaulWinch again]

It's mental, but even more important we're part of it.

[Dante Lavelli]

The club should start thinking about drastically discounting the ticket prices.  Maybe have walk-up tickets for a tenner on the proviso that you buy - and enter the ground - an hour before kick-off (more if there is another game on TV).  In return the club should put on decent entertainment/food/beer so the cash is re-cooped through others sales.

I don't think the current model will work for much longer and it would be good if villa could be ahead of the game in predicting (dictating?) how the 'customer experience' (sorry) will change.

[Whiney MacWhineface]

It looks like BT played Sky for suckers, scaring them into bidding huge (largely through their Champions League bid, which Sky had the opportunity to trump but declined as CL football isn't that popular). Sky will be grateful to have the football still but it'll be interesting to see how the stock market views that titanic bid.

Mad, mad, mad unless you're a footballer or their agent.

[Rudy65]

Bad, bad news. Sky will put up the cost of their subscriptions, tickets wont be reduced and players and agents will get even richer. Depressing

I'm just waiting for the first £500k per week prem player

Football will hopefully eat itself one day so we can somehow start again

[Chris Harte]

....then the match-going fans really will become mere extras in a TV show.

I've been thinking this for a while now.

Listening to Scudamore earlier, he was saying how important the fans were to the package. He wants full grounds at televised games. Yeah, that's why games get shunted around to suit broadcasters as a matter of course.

If he was serious about the fans then they'd see to it that all season card holders in the PL got Sky Sports and BT Sports free for twelve months.