Chapter 408 Strike?
Richard Cudmore sat at the round table and glanced at everyone, feeling a great deal of pressure.
As the chief executive of the Premier League, his annual salary is only close to one million pounds.
But anyone sitting here represents a huge consortium with astonishing wealth.
They are the kind of people who can shake up an industry with just one word.
Even if they say a word, they may lose their title as CEO of the Premier League.
How can we not be stressed out? How can we not be trembling with fear?
He was like this, and David Bernstein was even more depressed.
He's not even as good as Scudmore
"Thank you all for attending the regular meeting of the Premier League Chairman's Summit"
There was no applause, just everyone listening silently.
Scudmore seemed to be used to it. It was difficult to get applause from these big bosses.
"First, as is customary at the end of the season, I would like to introduce the three new members to you."
Every season, there are three promoted teams in the Premier League.
That is to say, three people leave and three people come in every year.
It's customary
"Mr David Gold, owner of West Ham United"
Two years ago, when Yang Huan came to the UK, he had contact with West Ham United, but later did not acquire the team.
Instead, David Gold teamed up with a Welsh tycoon and a Norwegian investment bank to acquire West Ham United.
However, David Gold himself is not financially strong, with a net worth of only 250 million pounds.
"This is Mr. Anton Zingarevic, a Russian tycoon and the owner of Reading FC."
The Russian nodded lightly to everyone as a greeting.
Zingarevic is only 30 years old this year. He is the most famous second-generation rich man in Russia, but his net worth is astonishing. He owns huge assets of 3.4 billion pounds. He can be called the best second-generation rich man in Russia.
But what is most impressive about Zingarevic is not his wealth, but his stunningly beautiful wife.
As a contracted model for Victoria's Secret, Garcia Zingarevic has always been a unique and beautiful sight on the Reading stands.
Even a few days ago, The Sun just conducted a fan survey to see who would be the most beautiful first lady in the Premier League stands in the new season, with Southampton, Reading and Liverpool ranking in the top three.
After all, the charm of Victoria's Secret female models is not as good as the stunningly beautiful Zhuang Ziqing.
"Finally, the owner of Southampton, Mr. Yang Huan"
When Yang Huan heard Skudmore read out his name, he just smiled faintly and remained sitting upright.
No one else stood up to say hello, so why should I stand up?
The others all looked at Yang Huan, and were surprised at his youth.
You know, Zingarevic is only thirty years old, which is young enough.
But in front of the older Russian rich second generation, Yang Huan looks like a pink and charming young handsome guy.
I believe that there must be many people here who are not familiar with Yang Huan and are wondering, is this the Saints boss who led Southampton to the Europa League championship and became the most powerful Premier League newly promoted team in history in the past two years?
Isn’t this too young?
She is simply too young.
But there were also people who were just there to watch the show, wanting to see how this legendary saint boss would resolve the current crisis.
You know, this time the Premier League teams reached a very rare consensus on the issue against Southampton.
After briefly introducing the three new members, Scudmore began to introduce some of the developments in the Premier League over the past three months. Among them, the most concerned issue for everyone present was undoubtedly the progress of the auction of the Premier League broadcasting rights starting in 2013.
"Currently, there are five TV stations including Sky, BT, and EpN that have signed up to bid for the local broadcasting rights. In addition, the bidding for North American rights has also attracted the participation of many TV organizations including Fox and NHE/8N. The auctions for rights in other overseas regions and other platforms such as the Internet will also be put on the agenda one after another."
When Scudmore introduced this matter, he seemed to be working very hard.
This is his biggest bargaining chip to secure his position as chairman of the Premier League
"According to our current negotiations with Sky and other TV organizations, this auction will still be divided into seven packages, but the number of live broadcasts will be significantly increased compared to the previous contract."
This is the result of compromise reached after negotiations between the two sides.
Although Scudmore did not say it explicitly, he was actually telling everyone that the Premier League broadcasting rights would definitely be more lucrative than the previous one, and it was not impossible to double it as rumored by the outside world.
This caused an uproar among everyone in the round table conference room.
It's amazing, isn't it?
David Bernstein was full of envy and jealousy. It was such a big piece of cake, but the English Football Association had nothing to do with it.
That's more than a billion pounds a year.
Skudmore glanced around, taking everyone's reactions into account.
When passing by Yang Huan, he found that the Southampton boss was not surprised at all and seemed completely uninterested.
Isn't it true that Young Master Huan's patience is too great?
Isn't such a huge income enough to tempt him?
On second thought, Scudmore felt that it was no wonder.
There have been rumors in the outside world that Yang Huan’s gaming company alone earns more than 10 million pounds a day.
Too profitable
Even though the broadcasting rights for the Premier League are sold at a high price, in reality, even the winning team will only get 100 million at most.
“Next topic”
The auction of broadcasting rights has not started yet. After giving a brief introduction to the situation, Scudmore immediately moved on to the next topic.
"I recently received another document from the English Football Association, which stated that the government hopes to establish a constructive club licensing system, which will be approved by the English Football Association and also involve fans in management."
As soon as Scudmore finished speaking, someone at the scene immediately raised a loud objection.
“This is absolutely impossible”
The speaker was David Gill, the chief executive of Manchester United, who seemed quite indignant.
"Portsmouth has been relegated. What happened to them in the Championship has nothing to do with the Premier League."
David Gill's words were immediately recognized with enthusiasm.
"I agree that the current system in the Premier League is very standardized and there is no need to introduce a licensing system."
"I'm afraid they don't want to get a license, but they want to get their hands on the Premier League to make money."
"We already allocate a sum of money to the English Football Association every year. We pay so much tax and make so much consumption every year. Isn't this enough?
“This is too much, too outrageous.”
"If they try to force a permit, we will strike"
"Yes, strike"
It can be seen that everyone's interests are consistent on this point.
That is, the Premier League must unite to fight against the FA and the British government.
David Bernstein was embarrassed. He felt that he was invited to attend the meeting not to be an observer but to be shot.
Speaking of this matter, the English Football Association can be regarded as an unlucky and tragic shield.
In the past two years, Portsmouth in the Championship has had two major internal conflicts due to financial problems, which angered the fans of the Pompey Legion and resulted in fans protesting to the government.
The new Sports Minister Robson was also very dissatisfied with the Premier League's departure from the FA's jurisdiction.
He even said publicly that football was the sport worst regulated by the British government.
The subtext is that supervision of football will be strengthened.
The broadcasting rights of the Premier League are rising steadily, and almost every contract is soaring, but these have nothing to do with the British government and the English Football Association. Not only that, the British government and the English Football Association have to invest a sum of money every year to carry out youth training and other matters.
It was in this context that the British Department of Sport proposed the so-called licensing system.
But it is obvious that this matter will not be approved by the Premier League.
The Premier League is now too powerful, things have gotten really tense, and neither side benefits.
Just look at the performance of these wealthy people who are in a state of panic.
Scudmore is also a smart man. This time he invited David Bernstein to attend, in fact, he also wanted to let the FA see the reaction of the Premier League, and it would be best to let the FA give up.
David Bernstein looked very embarrassed, but he had no right to speak.
Of course, he spoke, but no one listened to him.
The English Football Association is the unlucky and miserable character in the Premier League.
"Then let's move on to the next topic." Skudmore felt that it was about time and jumped in decisively.
The next few topics are not too big of a problem, such as the plan to reorganize the Premier League Reserve League and set up a U-League, but these all require clubs to increase their investment.
So the reactions were not very positive.
All the people present are profit-seeking businessmen. Only fools would do something that has no benefits.
As for youth training and so on, since we have money, we can do whatever we want. There are good talents everywhere in Europe, so who can't we buy?
Those who have no money can only accept their fate.
Just when the topic was almost discussed, Manchester United's CEO David Gill suddenly stood up.
The Red Devils' leader was clearly the one with the loudest voice at the roundtable meeting.
There is even a suspicion that it overshadows Skudmore.
Of course, among the people here, he has the longest qualifications and the most experience. Even if others are dissatisfied, it is difficult to shake him.
"I think, while Mr. Yang Huan from Southampton is here, we should have a good talk about the issue of Southampton's jersey advertising."
After David Gill said this, everyone immediately turned their attention to Yang Huan.
Yang Huan leaned back on the soft chair, looking at everyone leisurely, smiling faintly, and seemed to be stress-free.
For some reason, Abramovich got angry when he saw him like this, and wished David Gill would kill him.
David Gill is not afraid of offending anyone for the benefit of Manchester United.
"As we all know, the Premier League has a rule that all Premier League teams are not allowed to advertise on their jerseys. However, Southampton's jerseys are full of advertisements, which is obviously contrary to the Premier League's rules."
Having said that, David Gill looked at Yang Huan who was sitting a few people away.
"I wonder what Mr. Yang Huan thinks about this matter?"
Everyone immediately turned their attention to Yang Huan again.
There are so many people here, I wonder how many of them are laughing in their hearts, waiting to see the show.
In fact, whether Southampton advertises or not has nothing to do with the vast majority of people present.
If the saints do not advertise, they will not necessarily benefit, and if they advertise, they will not lose anything at all.
To be frank, among the 20 teams present, the only ones that can really attract sponsorship by advertising on jerseys are probably Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City. Southampton can barely get sponsorship.
As for other teams, even if the restrictions are really relaxed, they can't expect to attract sponsorship.
But sometimes people are just like this. If I can't do something, you can't do it either.
So, we can't advertise, and you Southampton shouldn't expect to play either.
When Yang Huan saw David Gill calling on him by name, he smiled and stood up.