Up and up and up and up they've gone, numbers spiralling beyond comprehension. Seemingly detached from the realities of other industries for so long, Premier League football has become the boom component of the entertainment sector. Its cash has piled up relentlessly year after year. For those involved, it's as though there's been no ceiling: Wages, transfer fees, agent cuts, bonuses and the rest; up and up and up and up.
Throughout, though, the quietly lingering questions have centred on whether all of this is sustainable: Could this upward surge be susceptible to anything? Would the mass inflation always be supported by an unbreakable foundation? Would there be any sort of fallout from the gorging on pound sterling? Could football, or the Premier League more specifically, continue its morphing into a standalone economy unabated?
The answers to these questions and more have all been tied into one overriding question: Would you, the viewer, continue to consume it regardless of everything?
For a long time now, you've said "yes, I will." The financial monster that is the Premier League has grown on the back of your football addiction. You've consumed and consumed and consumed. Subscription packages through Sky and more recently BT have multiplied in number. The incessant demand has resulted in inevitable price increases, and the Premier League has done everything in its power to extract money from those wanting to show it by making itself a broadcasters' dream.
Television cash, then, has flooded into the game. Last year, the rights for this season and the next two to come sold for more than £5 billion in the UK and more than £8 billion worldwide. To put that into perspective, it was only back in 1992 that Sky won the rights to the Premier League for five seasons for £304 million. That rate of inflation is off the charts, but you, the viewer, have ensured its viability. Until now, perhaps.
This might have been billed as the biggest Premier League season in history but so far the audience is saying otherwise. In mid-October, Sky's viewing figures for the campaign to that point were down by 19 percent, according to the Daily Mail. BT had also been affected, with the Guardian reporting the company's Champions League viewership was down 40 percent on one particular Tuesday.
A Sky spokesperson told the Daily Mail that there was no concern on Sky's behalf and that it was a "premature comparison." Part of the explanation was that blockbuster games such as Liverpool vs. Manchester United hadn't taken place yet, and when that fixture did arrive, there was some justification in that stance.
Despite the disappointing contest, "Red Monday" brought Sky its highest single-game viewing figures for three years.
But the Premier League isn't an isolated case here. In the U.S., NFL ratings—the colossal bedrock on which cable TV has thrived until now—have plummeted by more than 10 percent as well, and Sports Illustrated outlined that several prime-time slots had seen drops between 18 and 24 percent.
On each side of the Atlantic, many factors appear to be at play, some of them different in each case. But there's a common theme: People are turning away. Why? And to where?
In the U.S., the NFL doesn't know. "We don't make excuses, we look at it and we try and figure out what's changing," said league commissioner Roger Goodell.
From those outside looking in, common explanations have ranged from the distraction of the presidential election and a lack of star quality, to the shifts in consumer habits and the rapidly slowing force that is the cable TV model. Others have also pointed toward disillusionment with the world of professional sport and—whether rightly or wrongly, and whether accurate or not—a displeasure with political elements and their dissection becoming increasingly prevalent in the show and its broadcast.
As such, difficult questions are now being contemplated, and it's the same in the UK. For Sky and BT, shelling out a combined £5.14 billion for three seasons—or in Sky's case, more than £10 million per game—only makes sense if that inflation ensures eyeballs and subscriptions. After their war for customers resulted in a historic deal with the Premier League, viewership declines were not the expected outcome.
It's still only early, sure, and there are countless variables involved here. It's also important to remember there's a difference between not watching and not subscribing. But suddenly the Premier League looks a little less invincible anyway, less like its own mint.
A major concern is the proliferation of illegal streams to be found online. Those with a decent broadband connection—and that's most of you, ironically supplied in many cases by the very companies that are now wishing to an extent you didn't have them—know a high-quality stream offered in several languages is there be found in minutes, if not seconds.
Why pay £70-100 per month for a subscription of questionable value when all the content can be found for nothing? It seems the feeling of guilt that comes with doing so is fading, too.
When the latest viewership numbers were revealed, the Guardian asked its readers why they were turning off. It then published hundreds of responses, the vast majority of which focused on four things: the cost of subscriptions, the availability of streams, the outdated concept of the TV bundle when set against services such as Netflix, and a resentment toward paying the wages of multi-millionaire footballers.
The disillusionment stemming from football's detachment from normal life feels particularly pertinent in a year when, on the back of the TV-cash tidal wave, Manchester United paid £89 million for Paul Pogba; when agent fees have gone crazy; when wages have transcended absurd. The audience is breaking the cycle, if you like.
But perhaps all of this ties into a bigger question: Has the Premier League become too big for itself? Has its relentless presence and hype become its own problem? Is it set to eat itself?
With television and television only in mind, the Premier League has spread itself across more days than ever. In addition to Saturdays and Sundays, we have now have Friday nights and Monday nights. Tuesday and Wednesday are then designated for the Champions League; Thursday features the Europa League. Football never goes away. Ever.
The over-saturation is unquestionably an issue, and it ties into a cultural shift. As discussed by Paul Hayward for the Telegraph, modern technology has given us a distraction culture based upon the consumption of snippets to form a picture.
To be a semi-knowledgable football fan no longer requires you to watch several 90-minute episodes a week. You can catch the big moments from social media, view highlights on YouTube and casually interact with the vast array of content your provider is pushing your way.
Originally Posted by WMUG
How trueSpurs are the club who are currently attempting to buy the naming rights to a station near their ground. £12million it is reportedly going to cost them. All because in 1932, 84 years ago, TFL renamed Gillespie Road Arsenal Station. Imagine being that bitter, that twisted. Only an Arsenal fan who still hates Ozil can know how that feels.
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