Aberdeen’s former chief Keith Wyness has claimed Celtic and other Scottish sides can boost TV revenue by “pushing harder” to market their league overseas.
Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, the 66-year-old – who served as CEO at Aberdeen between 2000 and 2004, had lengthy spells as the chief of Everton and Aston Villa and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – suggested Scottish football can produce a “brilliant product”, citing the cup semi-final between Celtic and his former side.
Celtic set up a Scottish Cup final against Rangers with a penalty shoot-out win over Aberdeen on Saturday (20 April) after a 3-3 draw in normal time.
The Scottish Premiership’s TV deal with domestic broadcaster Sky Sports is worth just £25million per season – the 30th-most valuable agreement in world football.
Games are also broadcast in more than 150 countries worldwide.
Celtic and other Scottish sides must ‘push harder’ to market Scottish Premiership overseas, says Wyness
The Premier League’s overseas rights bring in more than £5billion, while the Scottish Premiership’s deal is believed to be worth under £5million.
Wyness told Football Insider‘s Insider Track podcast: “I thought the Celtic-Aberdeen game was a great advert for Scottish football.
“Together with Coventry-Man United, those two games were the two standout semi-finals of the weekend.
“It was fantastic.
“Of course, I was a little disappointed with the outcome but it shows that Aberdeen can compete.
“Aberdeen have been absent all season but they gave Celtic a scare.
“Scottish football can produce a brilliant product, and that is what has to be remembered.
“The way Scottish football is marketed – there’s much more to it than the Old Firm.
“It shows that the game can be at a high level, with a high excitement. I think the league should be pushing harder and packaging itself better to raise those TV deals higher.
“China wanted to buy the rights to the SPL while I was at Aberdeen, but clubs rejected it because they would have to market the league in a certain way.”
In other news, Celtic and Southampton race to sign Bayer Leverkusen ace.
GET MORE NEWS HERE
Leave a Reply