Premier League's Big Six chase a bigger slice of the overseas TV cash
The Big Six threat to the continued stability of the Premier League over the distribution of overseas television income was again evident at last week's clubs' summit.The two Manchester clubs, City and United, are once more at the forefront in trying to end the even split of the £3billion foreign proceeds for the next three-year rights deal.
City chief executive Ferran Soriano, who worked at Barcelona, cannot comprehend how Premier League teams who are most popular abroad do not benefit accordingly.
And United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward is not far behind in demanding payments based on the number of TV appearances in the overseas markets.A vote on the issue was delayed until the next meeting in September and 'the supporting cast', as the other 14 clubs were described, still have the majority to block any changes.
But most clubs seem to accept that changes are inevitable and one proposal is that some of the overseas pot is used to increase teams' annual prize-money based on their final league position.
I think this is greedy, unfair and would be a big mistake. The top clubs don't need more money but if they further decrease the competitiveness of the League then they'll suffer in the long run.