Chapter 931 Compromise

Yang Huan took in Richard Scudmore's expression and secretly found it funny.

After all, the CEO of the Premier League is somewhat like someone who wants to let the horse run but is unwilling to let it eat more grass.

On the one hand, they hope that big teams can introduce more influential stars to enhance the influence and competitiveness of the Premier League, but on the other hand, they are unwilling to take care of the big teams in terms of policies and systems. It is really funny.

Think about it again, why didn't Manchester United make any big signings in the later years of Ferguson's coaching?

Ferguson’s own factors are one aspect, but ultimately, it is because Manchester United does not have the motivation.

Premier League football teams are all companies, some are even listed companies, and they all have to consider their operating conditions.

Let me ask you, when Manchester United can maintain the team's operations and maximize the team's profits with lower salary costs, where does Manchester United get the motivation to recruit new players?

Oh, with the current group of players, we can basically guarantee a top four finish and win the championship, so why should I spend so much effort on recruiting players?

If you don't believe it, then take a look at Manchester United's financial statements in those years. The income and expenditure situation in it can clearly show that Manchester United is not without money at all, because it has made profits every year. This is very similar to Arsenal in recent years.

Ultimately, they all lack motivation!

As for things like being heavily in debt, that's all nonsense.

If Manchester United does not increase its recruitment and cannot maintain its top four position in the league, will the Glazer family make great efforts to recruit players?

Look at Manchester United now. Aren’t they also heavily in debt? But how much money have they spent just to get into the top four of the league?

This shows that debt is not a problem at all!

Yang Huan is now facing the same problem, which is what Southampton should do next.

You know, Yang Huan's advantage as a time traveler no longer exists. It is basically possible that Southampton will want to introduce superstars like Hazard, Neuer and Varane at a low price next.

If the team wants to continue to maintain its current superstar strategy, it can only follow the path of Barcelona and Real Madrid, investing heavily and introducing the highest level players to ensure its own competitiveness.

This is not a big problem for Southampton.

But Yang Huan has another choice, which is to defend the Premier League base like Manchester United and Arsenal, try to reduce costs, and as long as the competitiveness of the top four in the league is maintained, nothing else matters.

If it is the latter one, Yang Huan can at least get back 200 to 300 million pounds by selling a number of stars in the team one after another.

In other words, from now on, he can make money without doing anything.

"Richard, if it is true as you said, the transfer of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo can drive the overall broadcasting fee of the Premier League to increase by about 30%, then I would like to ask, what should we do about the salary and operating pressure brought by the introduction of these two superstars?"

When Yang Huan asked this question, his tone was calm, but his expression was serious.

Scudmore immediately realized the difficulty of the problem.

The current broadcasting fee-sharing plan of the Premier League is a bit like eating from a big pot.

As long as everyone eats from the same pot, there will inevitably be people who take advantage of the situation.

Even though the championship race and relegation battles in the Premier League are extremely fierce every year, in reality, there are several teams every year that are neither as good as the best nor as good as the worst, and have no motivation at all.

They have only one goal, to stay in the Premier League.

As long as they can successfully avoid relegation, they have no other desires at all.

From another perspective, Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur have no obligation to sign these two superstars.

Because after raising the broadcasting fees of the Premier League, all profits have to be shared with the other 20 teams, which is completely disproportionate to their investment.

This is why teams like Manchester United have no motivation to introduce superstars.

Yang Huan found it funny to see Scudmore hesitate to speak, and continued, "Last time you asked me if there was a way to solve the problem of Premier League teams' poor performance in European competitions, I didn't answer you, but now, I can tell you, there is!"

Scudmore looked at Master Huan and vaguely guessed something.

"That is, the Premier League has a clause that gives extra rewards to teams that perform well in European leagues."

Skudmore frowned. Yang Huan's proposal was not unexpected to him.

Because this is also the appeal of the big teams.

In order to play in European competitions, big teams must have a stronger lineup, a deeper bench, and higher investment.

But the problem is that no one can guarantee results in European competitions.

Even more, if the results of the Premier League are affected by the European war, wouldn’t it be a loss?

Therefore, over the past few years, the league has been the main business of Premier League teams, and European competitions have been just a part-time job.

As for the additional income from the Champions League, that is true, but the results of the Champions League cannot be guaranteed, but the investment is real.

When players' transfer fees and salaries are high, and teams feel that the cost of playing in the Champions League is not proportional to the output, they will naturally make some trade-offs.

Just like Arsenal, they reach the round of 16 every year, what can you do to them?

"Master Huan, what do you mean?" asked Scudmore.

Yang Huan said with a leisurely laugh: "My idea is very simple, to reform the overseas copyright profit-sharing clause!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Skudmore's eyelids twitched and he cried out inwardly, it was indeed so!

The big teams have finally started to consider overseas copyrights!

Many fans don’t know that there are actually two different models for sharing the broadcasting rights fees of the Premier League.

One is local copyright, and the other is overseas copyright and other copyrights.

The profit-sharing model for local copyrights is what the fans know: half is divided equally among the 20 teams, 25% is divided according to league rankings, and the remaining 25% is divided according to the number of broadcast games.

This clause has been in use since the establishment of the Premier League and is the most talked about clause among Premier League fans.

But I'm afraid not many fans know that the overseas copyrights of the Premier League and the copyrights of other platforms are not divided according to this model, but are all included in one package and shared equally among the twenty teams!

The reason for this is that when the Premier League was founded, and even in the years at the turn of the century, the overseas copyrights and the copyrights of the Internet and other platforms of the Premier League were not popular and did not generate much income at all, so all teams focused on local copyrights.

Just ask yourself, ten years ago, who would have thought that overseas copyright would rise to such a level now? It is almost on par with domestic copyright!

But the problem is that overseas copyrights and copyrights of other platforms are still more supported by the influence of big teams.

Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal, as well as the rise of Southampton, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur in recent years, have made the Premier League popular overseas.

Especially in recent years, the Premier League giants have been expanding their influence in North America, Asia and the Middle East.

However, as they increase their influence, the rapidly increasing revenue from the Premier League's overseas copyrights must be shared equally with mid- and lower-level teams that do not have much influence overseas, which is a big problem.

Many Premier League teams, including Manchester United, have always had objections to the overseas copyright distribution model, but due to the obstruction of mid- and lower-level teams within the Premier League, they were ultimately unable to reach a consensus.

Now, it is obvious that the saints are willing to raise this suggestion again.

"Frankly speaking, Richard, I personally think that the Premier League's distribution model is reasonable, but the overseas copyrights and the copyrights of other platforms should not be divided equally among the 20 teams, but should follow the Premier League's local distribution model."

Yang Huan knew very well that draining the pond to catch all the fish would not work.

It is impossible to distribute copyright income entirely according to overseas influence.

The benefits are too huge and growing too fast, so it is impossible for the mid- and lower-level Premier League teams to agree to it.

However, if the local distribution model of the Premier League is followed, it would be a compromise.

He and Ron Gourlay made a preliminary estimate. Based on the current overseas copyright revenue of the Premier League, the difference between distributing it according to the local model and distributing it according to the average model, given Southampton's ranking, should be around 20 million pounds.

That would be about 50 million pounds a year, instead of the current 30 million pounds.

In fact, if the broadcasting schedule is further relaxed, Southampton's share of overseas copyrights can be even higher.

As for the mid- and lower-level teams, although they suffered some losses, they are not completely unacceptable.

After all, when it comes to overseas copyright development, they really can't compare with the bigger teams.

Richard Scudmore also understands in his heart that for a team like Southampton that has a huge influence overseas, they can gain greater benefits by distributing overseas copyright income according to the local model.

The mid- and lower-level teams will be affected to a certain extent, but not too greatly.

After all, they have many games against strong teams every season.

It can also be said that distributing overseas copyright income according to the local model is indeed a relatively fair approach.

After listening to Yang Huan's words, Scudmore nodded and said, "Master Huan, we will seriously consider your proposal."

After a pause, Scudmore continued: "As for the rewards for Premier League teams participating in European competitions, this has always been something we are studying, and we may come up with a plan in the near future."

"That's great!" Yang Huan said with a faint smile.

Whatever Scudmore said now would be of no use.

After all, he is just a steward, helping the 20 Premier League teams, or should I say the dozen or so Premier League teams, to manage the Premier League. When it comes to specific actual power, it still depends on the vote of the Premier League Chairman's Summit.

Therefore, Scudmore's statement is just the first step.

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While Yang Huan and Schudmore were communicating enthusiastically in the stands, the two teams on the field were still maintaining a high-pressure stalemate.

Even though the score on the field was still zero to zero, the atmosphere was actually very tense.

Both sides adopted high-intensity oppression and pressing tactics, resulting in intense fighting on the field.

Guardiola and Bielsa were constantly adjusting their tactics in an attempt to create loopholes in their opponents, but both sides did a very good job in on-the-spot command and targeted tactics.

From this point, it is not difficult to see that the two head coaches did a very detailed preparation before the game.

Because if the head coach does not have a deep enough understanding of the opponent and does not prepare enough plans, it is difficult for him to make such targeted adjustments in a short period of time when faced with so many emergencies.

Bielsa and Guardiola are undoubtedly the best in this regard, and their preparations before the game have always been talked about by insiders and fans.

This time the preparations are even more thorough than usual!

Because tonight’s game is the Champions League final!

The commentator sighed, "Just based on the pre-match preparation, this game is enough to become a textbook for professional coaches and a model for all head coaches to study."

But there is a saying that goes, no matter how perfect a strategy is, there will always be loopholes.

When the two sides are evenly matched on the tactical level, what determines the outcome of the game is the strength of the players on both teams.

This stalemate of mutual targeting and restraint between the two sides lasted only more than half an hour, and the balance on the field was eventually broken.

The first to break the situation was...