AHEAD OF THE GAME: FA win battle with Premier League to ensure Cup final remains season climax
The Football Association have won a significant battle with the Premier League after receiving assurances that the FA Cup will not be sacrificed to make way for league games should the season resume later this summer.
The FA Cup quarter-finals — Leicester v Chelsea, Newcastle v Manchester City, Sheffield United v Arsenal and Norwich v Manchester United — were postponed following the lockdown and will be played despite pressure from some clubs to prioritise the Premier League programme.
UEFA have taken the decision to give priority to Europe’s domestic leagues by putting the latter stages of the Champions League back to August but the FA want to retain the normal rhythm of the season as far as possible and are insisting that, when the season recommences, the rescheduled campaign will climax with the FA Cup final at Wembley, a hugely anticipated game that is screened around the world and worth hundreds of millions of pounds in TV revenue to the governing body.
The FA have won a battle to ensure the FA Cup final remains this season’s climax at Wembley
No Sky Sports plans for fake fans technology
Sky Sports have no plans to use canned crowd noise or to generate fake fans through CGI technology to enhance their Premier League coverage when matches return behind closed doors.
The broadcaster have previously shown England’s UEFA Nations League tie in Croatia last season in front of empty stands.
Despite the eerie atmosphere, Sky executives have concluded that most fans would prefer to watch the matches without artificial add-ons. Other sports and broadcasters are taking a different view.
The Australian Football League have given permission for fake crowd noise to be used in Channel 7’s coverage of Australian rules football when the season resumes.
Sky Sports previously showed England’s game in Croatia in 2019 in front of empty stands
Did TV deals prompt cry-off?
It is surely no coincidence that the three European leagues who have moved quickest towards ending the 2019-20 campaign — France, Belgium and Scotland — are about to begin lucrative new TV contracts next season.
Belgium became the first major league to end the season last week with Club Brugge declared champions, which will enable their £90million TV deal with Eleven Sports to kick in as planned this summer.
Scotland are set to follow the same route prior to their new £160m contract with Sky Sports after finally voting to void the lower leagues this week with the Scottish Premiership expected to follow.
In France there have been calls from influential figures to terminate the Ligue 1 season early, which could be related to the record £1billion TV deal with Spanish broadcasters Mediapro that is due to start next season.
In France there have been calls from influential figures to terminate the Ligue 1 season early
Radrizzani’s mixed views on pandemic response
Leeds owner Andrea Radrizzani has mixed views about football’s response to the pandemic.
As chairman of Eleven Sports, Radrizzani welcomed the Belgian League’s decision to void the season as the TV network will be able to begin broadcasting matches as planned later this summer.
But if the Premier League follow suit Leeds will sue for hundreds of millions of pounds on the grounds of being denied promotion to the top flight. The Italian businessman is clearly one of life’s pragmatists.
Leeds owner Andrea Radrizzani has mixed views about football’s response to the pandemic
Keep taking the tablets, Spurs
Tottenham’s commercial team are taking a creative approach to maintaining revenue during the pandemic by offering fans a discount on the club’s official vitamins on the grounds that they boost the immune system.
Tottenham sent all season-ticket holders an email earlier this week with an offer of 20 per cent off vitamins and supplements from their official supplier, Healthspan, along with the claim that their products would ‘boost immunity’.
