TV deal to secure financial stability of Scottish football - SFA

THE Scottish Football Association believe they have secured themselves financial stability after agreeing a mandate with UEFA for the centralisation of commercial rights that could be worth £12.5million per season over four years.

The mandate was achieved last week after a long period of negotiation between the governing body of European football and their 53 member associations and will take effect from 2014.

Details of the centralisation scheme were discussed at the UEFA Congress in Paris this week and the next step will be for UEFA to take the centralised rights to the commercial market.

The new template will be along the same lines as UEFA's commercial deals for the Champions League and Europa League and will incorporate the Euro 2016 and World Cup 2018 qualifying campaigns.

Reports today claim the new deal will guarantee the SFA 12.5million per season, netting them an impressive 50million jackpot over the four-year period.

SFA chief executive Stewart Regan said: "It is great news in the current financial climate and, while a lot of work has gone into the negotiations, there is still a lot still to be done.

"What we have agreed is a mandate and despite the big, round headline figures in the media this morning, we are not in a position to discuss the terms of the mandate.

"Suffice to say, if the deal is activated in 2014 as expected it will give us flexibility to continue to provide services to all our stakeholders."