Sun speculates about - The True costs of Rangers relegation

[der Berliner 3,271]

In the article below. So there is no pressure being put on the SFL now, nope, none whatsoever. And all because of naughty and evil Rangers, not the bampots ruling the SFA and SPL, nope.

 

SCOTTISH football is staring at a staggering £80MILLION loss in TV cash if the SFL send Rangers plunging into the Third Division.

 

SunSport can reveal thatâ??s the stunning financial black hole our game will face if Fridayâ??s crunch vote sees stricken Gers banished to the basement league.

 

The core TV contracts for SPL coverage with Sky and ESPN remain unsigned â?? with the next five years of football on the box mired in uncertainty until TV chiefs know where Gers will be playing.

 

Yet SunSport understands the stark truth if Rangers are dumped into Division Three is this:

 

OUT: Will go ESPN, who as our gameâ??s second biggest TV supporters are crucial as they prepare to shell out £30m for their coverage in the deal.

 

OUT: Will go SportFive who plough in £2.75m a season currently to export pictures of the SPL action.

 

Much of their commitment to our game is based around the guaranteed broadcasts of four Old Firm games a season.

 

OUT: Go a host of top SPL sponsors who will pull out if Rangers are taken out of the mix for at least three years.

 

Sky Sports will not abandon the Scottish game completely if the SFL elect to tell Gers to start again at the bottom.

 

Sky will, however, drastically renegotiate the terms of their coverage.

 

And itâ??s believed the income will then be pegged at around just £3m a season.

 

The hit on the scrapping of the new TV deal is a crippling £65m â?? plus the loss of the overseas SportFive rights at £15m.

 

This is neither scaremongering or rumours, these are the figures those in the Hampden hierarchy are staring at through the cracks in their fingers.

 

An £80m deficit from now until the summer of 2017 â?? and what would be left of the game by then?

 

These are the haunting questions facing the SFL chairmen who have had this whole sorry mess dumped in their laps.

 

When SunSport polled the men with the future of Scottish football in their hands last Friday the vote stood at 14-2 AGAINST Gers with 14 clubs undecided.

 

Airdrie â?? who lost the First Division play-off to Dumbarton â?? will abstain as they would benefit by being moved up a league.

 

Dundee will be barred from voting as they look set to take Gersâ?? slot in the SPL, so there will only be 28 votes.

 

That could be reduced further if Stranraer, who lost the Second Division play-off to Albion Rovers, also elect to abstain as they have the same conflict of interest as Airdrie.

 

With the count down to 27 it would require the picture over the next 48 hours to change drastically from where it stood last week.

 

Gers need a vote of 14-13 to win their place in the Scottish Football League and if that is achieved then the SFL board is certain to rubber-stamp their entry into the First Division.

 

Yesterday the SFA and the SPL even took a hammering in the House of Commons.

 

English Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore stuck the knife into the SFA and the SPL over their handling of the Rangers crisis.

 

Scudamore told MPs their rules lacked the â??rigourâ?? to deal with clubs who run out of cash.

 

He insisted the English game had tightened up its own procedures after Portsmouth went into administration in 2010.

 

Giving evidence to the Commons culture, media and sport committee, he said: â??There is a huge raft of changes that we have made in the last five years.

 

â??I canâ??t comment specifically on the Rangers situation â?? but I feel very sorry for what is going on in Scottish football.

 

â??But I know the SPL and SFA donâ??t have the same level of rigour we have adopted in the last five years.

 

â??I donâ??t think their rules currently have the same processes weâ??ve got. If they do now, they didnâ??t at the time of the HMRC situation.â?

 

Labour MP Jim Sheridan added: â??The SPL and SFA should have amended their rules, but failed to do so. Questions have to be asked why they didnâ??t.â?

 

It is estimated that admitting Rangers into Division One will put an extra £2m into SFL coffers.

 

A sweetener of £1m has already been negotiated as the TV companies see an appeal in the novelty of covering Ally McCoistâ??s new-look squad in a lower league for the first time in their 140-year history.

 

A further £1m will come in through the gates as Gers roll into town in places like Cowdenbeath and Dumbarton as they bid to return to the top flight at the first time of asking. The benefits are there for those who rule in the First Division boardrooms and throughout the SFL to ponder.

 

Sporting integrity has become the buzz phrase of the last few weeks. Yesterday the chilling toll of what that will cost became all too apparent for a game teetering on the brink.

 

SunSport understands it is a stick-on that if the SFL vote Gers into the Third Division then plans for the formation of SPL 2 will kick in immediately.

 

That will cause chaos for a sport on its knees and leave long-suffering fans angry and bewildered.

 

Hard as it may be for some to stomach, there is surely now clarity ahead of Friday the 13th.

 

The vote to save our game will be one that places shamed Rangers into the First Division.

 

Anything else and we can stand outside the crime scene tape and count the bodies

[no12 0]

I'm sorry, I've never seen anything in the Sun which shouldn't be considered as a work of complete fiction.

[calscot 0]

How many clubs that have gone into liquidation have had the word "shamed" tagged on to their name? I'd really like to know.

[andy steel 0]

Yes, I can't wait to see all the clubs which go under in the future labelled thusly.

 

Not to worry. Can't go through life getting upset about what every turd on the planet thinks.