“What If” January 2019

What if the Premier League auctioned their games one by one. They get anyone interested in televising English and Welsh football in a big old auction hall and start with ‘first pick’. It’s a bidding war and inevitably Sky or BT win it. Next up is ‘second pick’ and so on. They work their way through 380 auctions, as Amazon, then ITV and even the Beeb get involved in winning games every now and then. Afterwards, they have to submit their choice for the fixture, each in turn picking one game of the season they want to show live on the T.V.. 

The Premier League television rights are a valuable asset. They are currently sold in seven tranches, separated by, amongst other things, an increasingly varied kick off time. This is to feed the growing demand to watch top tier tussles trialling teams’ talent together. The amount spent by broadcasting agencies on these games is immense. Sold three seasons at a time, 2015-2019 raised over £5bn. The latest set of sales, nearing its end, has seen a similar magnitude spent, this time with Sky, BT and Amazon all getting in on the act. Amazon are new entrants to the market and (pure speculation) may have initiated a trend for an increasing number of broadcasters to be showing the Prem. 

There could be a number of benefits to this method. The foremost of these would be enabling an improved distribution of games. The top games would likely end up still going to the same broadcasters, but a lot of the games which previously would not have been on T.V. would become available on smaller broadcasters with less financial power. This would benefit both the broadcasters and the fans. The caveat here is that it may revive the debate over the televisation of games reducing attendance.

There are several ways in which this technique could be varied. The inclusion of championship games, either with or without extra ‘picks’ included in the auction would further share the love. They could implement a weekly system, so that broadcasters go through the first gameweek first, choosing whether to use their picks to claim games, before they know what will be available to them further down the line. Some blind bidding process, gambling on either which picks to use or how much to bid in the first place, would add a certain extent of spice to the process. Similarly, complex auction styles, such as Dutch or Vickery auctions, would improve the entertainment value and potentially raise some extra funds for the league.

In summary, this ranks as a mediocre idea with a great many disadvantages, which weigh against a few minor, primarily amusement related, strengths. 4/10, would recommend to a friend.