Speaking at the Financial Times’ Business of Football Summit, Richard Masters, has distanced the Premier League from potentially ending the 3pm blackout.
His remarks fall in contrast to the reported perspective to the English Football League (EFL), which has posed the idea of ending the 3pm blackout – a move that would be a significant boost to the value of the competition’s rights, which are due next year.
As part of Article 48, matches can’t be broadcast on British television at a time when they could clash with 3pm kick offs.
It’s a rule that Masters underlined that the English top flight remains a strong advocate of, the reason being to protect attendances at football league grounds across the country.
Nonetheless, with the EFL eyeing deals with OTT platforms such as Amazon and DAZN, a potential eradication of the legislation would be key to bolstering the growth of the league’s value.
Masters also used his platform to comment on the spending of Chelsea FC’s new Todd Boehly, as he cited Brexit and new visa regulations as being key to fuelling increased spending during the January transfer window.
He detailed his belief that the current visa system needs ‘a tweak’, adding that it is currently ‘much tighter’ than other sports.
Masters continued: “While we’re totally committed to developing young, homegrown players and we want Gareth Southgate to be successful, when you have a limited supply of players you can go for and you’ve got lots of demand, then it’s slightly inflationary.
“That’s certainly not the only reason why lots of money and records are being broken in the Premier League transfer window but it’s a contributing factor.”
On Chelsea specifically, and the club’s astronomical spending – he emphasised that he is reserving judgement until the dust has settled in a few windows.
Highlighting that the question remains over whether they will have to sell players off the back of their spending spree.
He added: “Within our rules it’s a test over a 12-month period, so the question is whether they are going to sell some of their existing players in the next window. I am not here to defend them but you have to judge these things over a period of time.”
