Looking to cash in on derby

Published on Wednesday 12 January 2011 13:28

FOOTBALL finance expert Stephen Morrow believes that the draw of the Edinburgh derby is one of the main reasons why the SPL's ten-team proposal will become a financial success.

However, while backing Neil Doncaster and Co's plans for the future in terms of the cash they will bring into the Scottish game, Morrow, head of the school of sport at The University of Stirling, admits that the new model may not be the best option for football fans across the country.

Morrow reckons the blueprint for two new leagues of ten under the SPL's banner is the best way to maximise revenue from a television and advertising point of view because it means at least four clashes between the Edinburgh sides, and the same number of Old Firm games in Glasgow. Those two fixtures are huge draws in terms of a TV audience and Morrow insisted that the top league can't afford to ignore the pulling power of the bigger matches.

Morrow said: "I think that if you look at the whole thing from a financial point of view, the ten-team league is probably the one that makes the most sense. That is the proposal that will maximise the revenue that you will get from television companies and also from attendances, simply because of the fact that you will get a greater number of games involving the so-called bigger clubs in Scotland.

"The ten-team league makes the most sense financially, where it becomes a different issue altogether is from a supporter or social point of view. One can understand perfectly why a 14 or 16-team model would be more appealing to fans because you automatically see more teams over the course of a season and there's not so much repetition. You could argue that a different structure altogether, with bigger leagues, would probably be better if you're looking at all of the football clubs in Scotland, taking into account the smaller teams and youth development, that kind of thing. But this is all about the SPL asking what is in the best interests of the SPL clubs and that is going to be this model which is driven by finance and economics."

He knows that, while supporters relish the prospect of an Edinburgh derby, the majority of them are against the ten-team proposal because of the monotony of having to play the rest of the sides four times a season too. However, he continued: "The reality of contemporary professional football is that - whether we like it or not - it isn't just going to be about what will be appealing to those spectators who turn up to watch their teams every week.

"If you take your blinkers off and look at it from a financial point of view, you know that how many times in a season Hibs play Hearts is going to help maximise the SPL from the TV companies' perspective. How you put all of this into something that is going to suit in a supporters and social context, I don't know, but the most important thing right now is that you get more money into the game."

The current SPL proposal includes a play-off for promotion and relegation between the two ten-team leagues.

South of the Border, play-offs have proved a huge success, but Morrow believes that only time will tell if it can bring a significant boost to the game in Scotland too: "If you look at the play-offs down south, we know that they generate a great amount of interest but they are different to what we can expect from the SPL play-offs, I think. There is a belief that you would be maximising revenue by creating matches that people want to see and then the money that you bring in would be distributed between the teams who are taking part.

"But I think that this is still a less-proven point than the ten-team league at this moment in time."