EU deals blow to Glazer TV hopes

MALCOLM GLAZER has been dealt a serious blow to his hopes of Manchester United securing its own TV deals after the European Commission said it would not support a legal challenge by the club’s new owner.

United and the other 19 Premier League clubs have a ‘joint selling’ agreement by which they negotiate collectively for the domestic and overseas’ rights to the competition.

US tycoon Glazer is thought to have his eyes on United breaking away from that agreement, possibly by challenging the ruling in the European courts under free market legislation.

The EC competitions commission has been in conflict with the Premier League over its TV deals before but its spokesman Jonathan Todd has ruled out any backing from Brussels for a challenge to the principle of joint selling.

“We do not have a problem with joint selling, and we have recently given our blessing to a similar agreement with the German Bundesliga. We have a provisional agreement with the Premier League and we are still talking to them about the terms and conditions of the contracts, but the principle of joint selling is not a problem,” Mr Todd said.

The EC’s main concerns are about trying to prevent a monopoly by a broadcaster rather than a collective agreement by a league.

Its position is bad news for Mr Glazer, as an individual TV deal for United would be the easiest way of raising revenue and clearing the €785 million debts incurred by his takeover.

United are unlikely to have much luck either at persuading the other Premier League clubs to change the rules. At least 14 of the 20 clubs would have to agree to individual negotiation for either the domestic or the overseas deals and when former United chief executive Peter Kenyon pushed the issue to a vote two years ago he was defeated 19 to one.

The domestic deal is worth €495m a year to the 20 league clubs and the overseas contract more than €145m annually. United earned €46m from the Premier League last season, of which €43.7m came directly from TV money and the remainder from sponsorship and licensing.

Were they able to do their own TV deals, United could expect to at least double their income from that source of revenue.