SPFL could net £38m-a-year in new Scottish Premiership Sky deal

The SPFL could net as much as £38million-a-year with a new Scottish Premiership TV deal.

A new Scottish Premiership TV deal is being negotiated with Sky Sports. Picture: SNS

Talks and negotiations have been held between the league body and Sky over extending the broadcasting partnership.

The current deal, which allows the broadcaster to show up to 48 matches from the Scottish top-flight, is set to expire at the end of the 2024/25 season.

The number of games is expected to increase to up to 60 matches under the proposed new deal with each of the 12 Premiership teams able to broadcast up to five games, not shown by Sky Sports, on pay-per-view.

Due to the Saturday TV blackout between 2.45pm and 5.15pm those PPV fixtures would have to be moved.

The Scotsman understands that in addition to the 60-match deal worth around £30million-a-year, a secondary deal has been negotiated which would allow Sky to show an extra 20 games at a cost of £8million per season.

If the broadcaster was not to take on the secondary deal, the SPFL are able to sell the rights for those 20 games to another broadcaster.

The SPFL, who have been stung by TV deals before, view Sky as good partners.

If the broadcaster were to take on 80 games for around £38million it would work out at £475,000 per live game. It may be a decrease in the price-per-game of the current deal but substantially higher than leagues in Scandinavia as well as the likes of the Netherlands and Belgium.

In addition, the deal would be significantly higher than the £25million-a-season the SPFL currently nets.

Clubs, who have commissioned Deloitte to conduct an independent review of the SPFL, are keen to drive the league forward commercially. This new deal would be a key step forward in this.

Hibs chairman Ron Gordon recently spoke of a “wow” factor in the Deloitte findings which are soon to be released.

"We have other things that are more significant and a couple of innovative things as part of the plan," he said.

"We have one little piece of business that we're negotiating, and if we get that done, I think everyone is going to think, 'wow, this is good'.”