Kieran Maguire: Sunderland to cash in from ‘ambitious’ global plan amid news from Qatar
Sunderland will cash in if the EFL’s “ambitious” long-term plan to squeeze more cash from the global TV rights market is successful.
That is the view of finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the EFL’s latest overseas media deal.
As relayed by Sport Business on Wednesday (17 August), a new two-year multi-territory deal has been signed with Qatari media giants beIN.
The value of the deal has not been reported, although international rights currently account for only a fraction of the EFL’s overall media pot.
But Maguire explained why the likes of Sunderland will benefit if the EFL continues to grow its global footprint through new TV deals, even if they are initially low in value.
“While the EFL is playing catchup, there is a lot of interest in English football as a whole,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“I think the EFL to an extent are playing the long game because they have seen how the Premier League went from in the early years giving the international rights away for nothing to attract interest in the product.
“Now, international rights comprise more than 50 per cent of total TV revenues.
“It will be more challenging for the EFL to achieve that aim, but there is no reason why they can’t move the dial and be ambitious when it comes to international rights.
“The domestic rights are worth £119m-a-year. That compares to £3billion in the Premier League, so there’s a big gap.
“Somewhere between a third and a half of the EFL rights also relate to the Carabao Cup. That is going to change because the bigger clubs want to scale down their involvement.”
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