Kieran Maguire: Liverpool stars poring over contract ‘small print’ as legal drama on cards
Liverpool stars’ representatives will be poring over the small print in their contracts to discern whether their performance data is being used legally.
That is the view of finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about plans to incorporate players’ data into live TV broadcasts.
The Daily Mail reported on 26 October that Sky Sports and BT Sports will soon introduce wearable technology that tracks players’ running speed, shot velocity and positional data for display during broadcasts.
Player data is currently the subject of a £500million legal action fronted by EFL manager Russell Slade which has been described as the most seismic case in football since the Bosman ruling.
The 1,400 claimants, who have united under the banner of Project Red Card, argue that players themselves should profit from the use of data which is their intellectual property.
Maguire suggests that the TV companies’ new scheme could run into similar issues depending on whether there are provisions in player contracts which dictate how their data is used.
“As far as tracking technology is concerned, it is a bit of a minefield,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“It could be that, upon reading the small print, players have contracts that allow the clubs that allow the clubs to utilise the data which is being extracted, in which case their details go no further.
“It will all depend on the purposes it is being used for. It is being used by the clubs themselves to assist in the development, recuperation and health routines of players, I don’t think they will be any argument.
“But if that data is also going to be sold to third parties, we could see further development of the Russell Slade case in terms of players having some rights to their own intellectual property.“
In other news, medical Insider claims this may be real reason for Fabinho “decline” as new Liverpool details emerge.