by Mark Bassey

The Premier League have since announced that they have sold the UK live rights to games, for the next seasons from 2016/2017 campaign to Sky and BT Sport for a record £5.136billion.

But what are the things we weren’t told?

1. Of the total sum, Sky paid £4.2bn for five of the seven TV packages. While rival BT paid £960m for the other two.

2. Those figures represent a 83% increase in what Sky paid in the last round three years ago. BT paid 18% more.

3. Most experts have predicted that the first-team wage in five years’ time will be £10million per player per season, or £200,000 per week.

4. If a big club really wants to keep or buy a top player, they would have what it takes to pay up to £500,000 per week.

5. There will be another auction for TV rights for the 2019-2022 seasons. Expect another increase. The trend remains upward, from the 1992/1993 campaign, when the League as a whole earned £50.7m per year from TV deals.

ifreke

Ifreke Inyang is a public commentator and social media critic who has worked with a number of high profile publications across the country.