With the English transfer window shutting later today, there looks set to be a few big-money signings still to go through.

You only need to look at Manchester United’s signing of Harry Maguire for a whopping £80 million to see that it’s all become a little silly.

Sure, they might recoup £70 million or so from flogging Romelu Lukaka to Inter, but across the board, transfer fees have shot through the roof since PSG snapped up Neymar back in August of 2017.

Whilst clubs like United and Liverpool have massive sponsorship deals and many ways to bring in revenue, Premier League clubs are also heavily reliant on TV money from broadcasting rights.

As the Telegraph reports, there may well be a nasty surprise around the corner:

…clubs are being warned their bubble could burst in the next broadcasting deal after one of their biggest funders recorded a multi-billion pound hit from the ongoing theft of TV rights coverage in the Middle East…

Up to £650million of rights packages for UK sports – the majority of which ends up in Premier League clubs’ pockets – will eventually be at “significant risk”, broadcaster beIN Sports has now warned.

Yousef Al-Obaidly, CEO of beIN, told The Telegraph: “This is – without doubt – one of the largest and most damaging heists in corporate history.”

Essentially, a Saudi-based satellite service called beoutQ, which broadcasts around the world, has been stealing broadcasts from Qatari-based beIN Sports.

If the government doesn’t intervene, beIN Sports will almost certainly reduce its offer for three-year rights packages for UK sport, including the Premier League, and that greatly affects their back pockets:

The Premier League is understood to believe Saudi Arabia’s current status as a potential safe-haven for piracy is the greatest legal threat it currently faces. “It represents a territory where we can’t get any legal recourse,” a source close to the situation said.

“That sets a trend that is very worrying.  It’s what it represents. It’s a long-term partners that are badly damaged and we really need to protect them.”

Any threat to value of overseas rights for the Premier League could have dramatic consequences. Speaking in May, Richard Masters, the interim chief executive of English soccer’s top flight, revealed that a drop in the value of the league’s domestic rights has been offset by overseas broadcasters, who are paying around 30 per cent more for games during the next three seasons.

Those big-name clubs will suffer, but it’s the Premier League’s smaller clubs that will really take a hit.

To try and curb these illegal streams, the Premier League has set up an anti-piracy unit in Singapore, but Saudi Arabia isn’t keen to play ball:

…all attempts to stop beoutQ have fallen flat. Legal threats have fallen on deaf ears and Saudi Arabia has even ignored warnings that Fifa could eventually ban the nation from competing at the World Cup.

Footballing bodies believe the Middle East nation has so far turned a blind eye to so-called “widespread and flagrant” breaches because of its rift with Qatar, where beIN Sports hold the commercial rights for the Middle East. The spat has escalated as Qatar prepares to host the 2022 World Cup.

Who would have thought a country like Saudi Arabia, with a gross history of human rights violations across the board, wouldn’t respect commercial rights?

Broadcaster beIN Sports estimates that it lost more than £823million in legal fees and lost revenue in the first six months alone (this has been going on for two years), and the company now believes that diplomatic sanctions are the only way forward:

Overseas rights to every Premier League game until 2022 are currently worth a combined £4.2 billion, up from £3.1 billion during the previous three-year cycle. The increase made up for the drop in value of the Premier League’s domestic rights, which Masters said are now worth £5 billion compared to £5.4 billion paid by Sky and BT Sport for the 2016 to 2019 term.

When the time to renegotiate those figures comes, Premier League clubs may well be looking at a sizeable decrease in payments.

Again, the big dogs will be affected, but it’s those clubs who operate from seventh to 20th each season that are really going to feel that pinch.

Sadly, that will probably lead to the already hyper-inflated ticket prices escalating further, and fans having to fork out more to watch their teams in action.

[source:telegraph]