Stewart Robertson outlines Rangers’ position on £30m TV deal amid continuing SPFL frustrations

Being around other top clubs has been a veritable treasure trove for the board as they seek to push forward with new ideas. 

The upcoming Blue Sky Lounge, an informal hospitality space in the Sandy Jardine Stand, is one example of where European travels have influenced policymaking. 

Another eye-opener has been open discussions on the money Rangers currently make from the SPFL TV deal.

That the likes of Ajax and Napoli receive bigger sums isn't news but when Malmo directors explained their broacast agreement in Sweden was vastly superior to that of Scotland, managing director Stewart Robertson took notice. 

“The one that really stuck with me was Malmo,” Robertson explained. “Their TV deal was more than double the Scottish TV deal. You sit with Ajax and Napoli and they are all receiving far more from their TV and sponsorship deals and their league commercial deals as a whole.  

“It put Scottish clubs at a disadvantage when you are playing other European clubs because you know they are all taking bigger sums out of their leagues and TV deals than we can.” 

That sense of frustration is exacerbated by the huge sums earned by clubs across the border for their own deal with Sky that has seen £2.5bn paid out for last season alone. Rangers' next Champions League opponents will be Liverpool at Anfield, a club obviously on a different financial stratosphere.

Robertson points out: "To highlight the extent of the challenge facing us soon, Liverpool received £151m from the Premier League last season for finishing second and we received £2.7m from the SPFL for finishing second."

Of course, TV revenue is not the be-all and end-all for Rangers that it is for many of the other teams in Scotland. Only a small percentage of the turnover comes from the current Sky agreement, and that won’t change regardless of any new contract with the broadcaster. 

A deal with Sky worth around £30m each term that lasts until 2029 is now on the table with Premiership clubs reportedly keen to sign off and ensure continuity of budget.  

Robertson, a former director at Motherwell, understands more than most smaller Scottish clubs' desire for security but the failure to establish a proper market value for the rights clearly vexes him. 

“I don't think we sell it. We just go along and nudge it up a little bit. This is no criticism of Sky who are a good partner for Scottish football.  

“We didn't market-test this deal. We have no idea what else is available in the market so we don't know whether it's the best deal or not. There's an advisor the SPFL have used and he's telling us all the reasons why he thinks it's a good deal.  

“We have contacts with other organisations. James Bisgrove worked with a company who are negotiating the deals for the Champions League and the Europa League for the next cycle. We get market feedback from there that doesn't really hang together with the other stuff we are being told.  

“My problem is we haven't gone and sold it. We haven't sold it whatsoever. That's no secret. I've been reasonably vocal about it when I was on the SPFL board. James and I made the point when this new deal was presented to the clubs.  

“Without breaching any confidences, I still think we are underselling Scottish football. I get frustrated by it.

"We have to focus on what we are doing at Rangers. It is a small proportion of our revenue so we have to maximise the revenues that come from other areas.” 

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While TV revenue often takes much of the focus, there is also the matter of the SPFL’s commercial activities. The league’s deal with cinch needs no introduction and while Rangers’ position not to provide the used car website with advertising inventory has been vindicated, the bitter taste from some of the aspects of the deal linger for Robertson.  

Not least the £600,000 pounds being taken out of an £8m deal by the agency who brought the SPFL and cinch together. 

He said: “In relation to commercial revenue of the SPFL, the cinch sponsorship which there has been a lot of noise about to the point the SPFL have gone and renegotiated it because there's now that admission that we did have a contract in place and we didn't have to provide the rights despite all of the steps they have tried to take against the club and the flawed arbitration they have tried to take against us.  

“Something that highlights where I get frustrated is the organisation that takes the second highest amount out of the cinch deal is the agency that brokered the agreement. So the champions get the biggest slice of it, then there's the agency, then it's every other club in Scotland getting less. So that just can't be right and there is something badly wrong when that's the situation and they are taking more money than 41 other clubs. That's just an example where we need to be smarter as an organisation.” 

And it's not just Rangers who feel the SPFL can sharpen up its act. Dundee United, Aberdeen, Dundee, Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian teamed up to commission consultancy firm Deloittes to review where Scottish football can improve. It produced an action plan to increase distributable income from £28.4m to £50m over the course of the next five years.

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Robertson wants to know how the league's leadership team, led by chief executive Neil Doncaster and chairman Murdoch MacLennan have allowed nearly a decade to pass without a robust plan to move the finances of the game forward.

He said: “There was a strategy group set up by the SPFL that was driven strongly by Hibs owner Ron Gordon to look to grow the revenues. Ron has done all the heavy lifting on that. It’s not been the SPFL executive.

"It’s been Ron doing the bulk of the work on that. He’s come in with new ideas and is looking at things freshly which is great. We will debate what some of the ideas are and whether they work or not but that’s been driven by the clubs, it’s not been driven by the SPFL executive and that frustrates the life out of me. We should have someone who is really driving that business forward and maximising commercial revenues for the clubs.

"The SPFL has had no strategic plan since the merger in 2013 and only as a result of the probing by the five clubs initiating the Deloittes report have the clubs now pulled together a strategic plan. Why have the SPFL executive not had a strategic plan for the past 10 years, surely that’s a dereliction of duty?"