Group of 6 giants disillusioned with re-dividing English Premier League copyright

Managers of 20 clubs have failed to agree on a proposal to redistribute the tournament's multi-billion dollar television rights.

The six top clubs, Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham, have asked for a bigger slice of the Premier League television rights pie. The group's view is that they are famous clubs with large fan bases around the world. Fans mostly choose to watch matches played by these six teams, rather than the others.

Television rights are bringing in huge revenue for Premier League clubs.

The proposal was discussed at a meeting of the 20 Premier League clubs on Wednesday in London. But the chairmen and chief executives of the 20 clubs failed to reach a final decision. However, the Premier League revealed that the clubs will take more time to discuss the issue.

According to Sportsmail, the three "big bosses" Daniel Levy (Tottenham), Bruce Buck (Chelsea) and Ed Woodward (Man Utd) have lobbied, trying to convince teams outside the "Big 6" to support the proposal. Everton, West Ham and Leicester are said to support, but more than half of the remaining teams are against.

As it stands now, a third of Premier League broadcasting revenue is split evenly among the 20 teams. The remaining two-thirds are divided according to the teams’ final league position and the number of games televised. This does not create a clear division between the champions and the bottom teams. Last season, for example, Chelsea received around $202 million, while relegated and bottom-placed Sunderland got $132 million.

Ed Woodward is said to be one of three executives actively campaigning for the redistribution of the Premier League television copyright pie. Photo: SM.

Former Man Utd captain Gary Neville has said it would be a “big mistake” if teams agreed to redistribute the broadcasting rights money. As it stands now, newly promoted, lesser-known teams can still buy good players thanks to the large sums of money they receive from television rights. If redistributed in a way that benefits big clubs, the tournament could reduce the surprises and excitement, becoming as predictable as championships in Germany or Spain./.

According to VNE