Kieran Maguire: Newcastle United poised to cash in from historic rule change
Newcastle United are poised to exploit the potential abolition of the 3pm UK football broadcast blackout.
That is the view of finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the Magpies’ plans to boost their media revenue.
Newcastle are the richest club in world football but because of Financial Fair Play constraints must grow their income to unlock the limitless spending power of their Saudi owners.
Commercial revenue is one area they are looking to expand, and the Daily Mail reported on Wednesday (12 October) that Peter Silverstone will soon be appointed to head up that department.
Silverstone, who spent seven years at Arsenal, is due to join from football media giants OneFootball.
The news comes in the same week that the EFL announced that they are considering scrapping the embargo on televised football between 3.00pm and 5.15pm on Saturdays.
Maguire claims Silverstone can help Newcastle profit if the Premier League follow suit and abolish the blackout, which has been in place since the 1960s.
“Newcastle will be looking to move forwards in terms of new technologies and streaming falls within that remit,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“We have already seen the EFL look to effectively abolish the 3pm blackout period from 2024. If the Premier League does the same, perhaps clubs might look to stream their 3pm games to fans to generate additional revenue.
“This is somewhere where someone like Peter Silverstone can assist the club as it looks to grow revenues.
“Under Uefa’s new financial sustainability rules, the only way Newcastle can compete with Big Six is to grow revenues because there is going to be a soft wage cap which is a percentage of income.“
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