Facebook coy on Premier League rights speculation

Social media company Facebook has refused to rule out a bid for the next cycle of rights to the Premier League, the top division of English club football, but has maintained that broadcasters should not feel threatened by its growing presence in the sports rights market.

Speculation has mounted since Manchester United vice-chairman Ed Woodward said Premier League clubs expect Facebook and internet company Amazon to compete for the next set of rights to the competition.

Speaking last month during an investors’ conference call to discuss United’s full-year financial results, Woodward pointed to Amazon and Facebook’s growing prominence in the acquisition of sports rights. In August, Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said the league would be open to offers from online operators such as Amazon and Facebook.

Pay-television broadcasters Sky and BT Sport are the Premier League’s current main domestic rights partners across the three campaigns spanning 2016-17 to 2018-19. The next Premier League rights sales process for the rights spanning the 2019-20 to 2021-22 seasons is expected to open before the end of the year.

Commenting on Facebook’s potential role in the process, Dan Reed, the company’s global head of sports partnerships, said: “The Premier League is a very important partner of ours. We work with them to help them reach their audience. It would be premature to speculate on how we might approach that. But they are a very important partner. That speaks for itself. We continue to have an ongoing relationship with the Premier League.”

Regarding comments from Woodward and other Premier League clubs, Reed continued, according to UK newspaper The Guardian: “I’m not going to speculate on what or why the clubs in the Premier League are saying what they’re saying. They’re going to make their decision. We have very productive partnerships with clubs in virtually every league in the world. We work with them to help build their audience and content.”

Commencing from 2017-18, the Fox Sports division of US network Fox has teamed up with Facebook to stream live coverage of the Uefa Champions League European club football tournament.

Some matches are being made exclusively available on Facebook and Fox Sports Go, while others are being simulcast on television. Under the terms of the deal, Facebook will show two live games per day in the group stage, four round-of-16 contests and four quarter-finals.

Reed cited this deal as an example of how Facebook can strike collaborative agreements with broadcasters. “We aim to collaborate with broadcasters and rights holders,” he said. “Our partnership with Fox shows that we can have a mutually beneficial relationship. Put aside streaming of games – we help broadcasters all around the world.

“We work with Fox in the US to help them to get people to tune in to events on television, which is the bedrock of our relationship with broadcasters. There are a number of examples where we help broadcasters and we have an excellent relationship with Sky and BT in the UK.”