The SPFL’s board of directors will undertake emergency meetings after Sky Sports and the SPFL’s new £30 million a year broadcasting agreement was called into question.
Given 28 days to vote on a resolution supporting an extension to the present deal, 12 Scottish Premiership teams were also required to give a letter of waiver agreeing to allow Sky to expand the amount of home games shown from each ground from four to five per season.
While eleven Premier League clubs agreed to the request by the deadline of midnight on Sunday, the league received no response from Rangers, and the settlement fell through.
The proposed arrangement would allow the broadcaster to expand the maximum number of games shown every season from 48 to 60 beginning in 2024/25.
In exchange, Sky is willing to increase annual payments to Premier League teams from £25 million to £30 million by 2028/29.
The broadcasters have also obtained first refusal on two additional packages of ten games, each costing £4 million, beginning in 2024/25. If that option is exercised, coverage of Scotland’s top division could grow to 80 games each season, with teams earning a total of £38 million per year.
Normally requiring an 8-4 majority of Premiership teams, all 12 clubs were required to consent to the change in rule on how many games Sky may telecast from each venue.
Despite widespread support for the agreement at a club meeting on August 5, the motion failed to obtain the requisite support and was defeated.
Rangers are said to be concerned by the league’s unwillingness to put the broadcasting contract out to tender in order to attract higher bids.
The SPFL’s board of directors will immediately hold emergency talks to determine their next course of action. One alternative is to amend the regulations in order to force the contentious Sky transaction through at the second attempt.
While Premiership teams would just need an 11-1 majority, all 42 senior clubs in the SPFL pyramid would have to vote on the issue.
The Ibrox team is now in a battle with the league hierarchy over a contentious sponsorship arrangement with online vehicle business cinch, and they want to meet with other Premiership clubs to express their concerns.
In a last-ditch effort to persuade the Rangers board to produce a letter of waiver and save the Sky contract, SPFL Chairman Murdoch MacLennan proposed to hold a summit later this month.
The Europa League finalists, citing continuous concerns about corporate governance within the league, requested for the resignations of MacLennan, Chief Executive Neil Doncaster, and legal advisor Rod MacKenzie in April 2020, and that attitude has not altered.
Rangers Managing Director Stewart Robertson suggested last year that the national game’s rights had been “undersold.” And any new vote by clubs on the Sky deal is now likely to be interpreted as a vote of confidence in the league’s office bearers.
