BT Sport ready to smash record to secure SPFL television rights as they want to broadcast Rangers and Celtic – Daily Mail

• 
  
  
• 
  e-mail
  

BT Sport are ready to offer the SPFL their biggest-ever broadcasting deal in return for exclusive rights to Scottish football.

BT and Sky Sports currently pay around £21million a year to share 60 live SPFL games, while BT also have exclusive rights to the Betfred League Cup.

However, the telecoms giant are keen to secure the rights to Rangers and Celtic games and 60 live Premiership fixtures a season, and have launched a charm offensive to persuade club chairmen they can go it alone.

BT Sport are willing to break the record deal for Scottish football rights from next season

And SPFL sources believe they will shatter the previous record deal worth £31m a season – which was signed with Setanta in 2008 – to get their way.

BT Sport last week signed a mammoth £1.2billion three-year deal to renew coverage of the UEFA Champions League and Europa League.

By comparison, the sums under discussion for Scottish football represent a drop in the ocean.

But a series of formal and informal discussions between the two sides began in mid-January when chairmen and chief executives joined the SPFL’s Ralph Topping and Neil Doncaster in London for talks with BT executives.

SPFL figures have also attended a presentation at Twickenham, home of English rugby, to gauge the impact the broadcaster’s coverage of the Aviva Premiership has had on match attendances and viewing figures. Figures show the former rose by 10 per cent and the latter by 13 per cent.

The sums shared between clubs for broadcasting rights took a huge dent when Setanta’s UK operation collapsed in 2009.

The return of regular Old Firm games has increased the appeal of Scottish football rights

Forced to do a knockdown deal with Sky and ESPN worth half the value of the previous deal, the loss of the regular Rangers-Celtic fixture in 2012 further diminished the product’s value in the eyes of broadcasters.

With Old Firm games back on the menu, however, BT Sport have used a series of formal and informal early discussions to woo SPFL figures and edge ahead of rivals Sky in the negotiating process.

‘It will all come down to numbers,’ an SPFL source told Sportsmail. ‘There is a value in Scottish football and BT Sport appreciate that. The matter should move forward next year.’

As part of the new Champions League deal, BT Sport will release free clips and weekly highlights. A similar package is on offer to the SPFL.

Sky retain rights to the William Hill Scottish Cup until next year and will hold their own discussions with SPFL chairmen in the coming months.

Clint Hill celebrates after his dramatic equaliser during March 12’s game against Celtic