MIDWEEK ROUND-UP

The Netflix Premier League Pipe Dream

There’s a story doing the rounds online that Netflix is ready to take over Premier League rights when the current deal runs out in 2029. I’ve hunted around for a source, and there doesn’t appear to be one in existence.

I am unsure why a company that is valued at $320b has no interest in the GREATEST league on the planet. It has insane scale, all of the pipes are road-tested, it is now in sports despite saying it wouldn’t be, and it’s always looking for a new reason to bring people into its ecosystem. I think Ted Sarandos once said the biggest enemy for the company is sleep… which is quite sad. My generation melted their brains because Netflix made binge-watching more edgy than going out drinking and socialising with people.

But that’s another story…

Now that I can’t go out and socialise with people, I have a deeply passionate interest in the biggest entertainment company in the world picking up the Premier League and making it all accessible in one place, all season long, whenever the games are going live.

It’s time, right? In America, I have to spend $89 on YouTube TV to get the base of Premier League games. Then I have to spend $10.99 for Peacock to get the b-list games. I need CBS ($8.99) for League Cup and Champions League. Then I need ESPN for the FA Cup ($12.99).

All that cash to be tortured by my team?

Now, there are some case studies for how this can work well. MLS tied into a deal with Apple TV. The league used to be on ESPN. There were 67 start times for fans to deal with (literally), they have blackout games over here (like 3pm kick-offs for UK people), and the whole experience just lacked.

Apple came in and made sure a majority of the games were between 7:30 and 9:30 on Saturday night. They created one space on the app for the whole league. They also allowed clubs to do their own storytelling. It’s a really great experience for fans and it improves every year.

The Premier League going all-in on one partner would give it incredible reach, it would grow the audience because more fans would bump into the content, and it would give the league unrivalled analytics on the sport. It’d also allow the league to innovate in the ad space to generate secondary revenue.

Quite astonishing it hasn’t happened yet and Sky, a UK-based cable service, has managed to aggressively hold onto the rights for so long.

But it’s time for change. I need the simplicity in my life. I want ALL the Premier League football for $10 a month.

Arsenal’s Finances & The Summer Squeeze

Arsenal’s finances dropped and I absolutely cannot be bothered to go through them. I hear you, ‘but you used to do 2000-word essays on them back in the day.’ Yes, this is true, but it was always with the intent of proving the club could spend money if it wanted to.

Nowadays, we spend cash. The only number I really care about is whether we dropped £268m on transfers. We absolutely did. So I am happy.

What worries me about the latest finances? I’m a bit concerned we’re in trouble this summer. We might be pushing up against UEFA regs. That probably means one of the players we really like might end up leaving. The most obvious choices seem to be names like Myles and Ethan. But we could also see a player like Ben White exit to balance those books.

At some point, players leave. Arsenal have been blessed to have an ownership that has just gone nuts over the past years to keep us at the top. We now have a fat squad that’ll need some trimming if we want to go again. That’s when we’ll see if having a Super Agent King running the show actually pays off for Arsenal. If Berta can’t sell, then we are in a spot of bother, and I have my doubts whether we’ll be seeing £100m strikers joining in the summer.

But who knows, keep winning games, keep adding TV revenue to the pot… and who knows what might happen.

Man City’s Charges & The Champions League

Rumors are flying around about the extent of the Man City punishment. Streets are talking about 60-point deductions. It is crazy to me that another Premier League season has nearly resolved, the team with the charges has spent £500m in a year, and there’s no resolution. How can a league have invited an ownership group in that it’s petrified of like this? Would the NFL let a problem like this fester for so long without a resolution? No way. This is poor. If the punishment drops before the end of the season, it ruins this season. If it drops after, it could make the 2nd place team Champions, and where’s the joy there? The whole thing is absurd and should have been sorted long, long ago.

The Champions League draw happens in 2 days’ time. We’re now sure it’ll be Bayer Leverkusen. Dortmund are 1-0 down to Atalanta away, but still 2-1 up. Still a decent draw, just hope the path we take doesn’t kill us with English clubs.

Ok, that’s me done for the day. x