有很多原因可以解释为什么英超可以成为现象级的商业体，一是英国对出售版权至海外市场持开放态度，二是英超俱乐部都很拥护和迎合全球观众。在未来一段时间里，英超依然会是全球最吸引人的赛事之一。

如果说今年英超的俱乐部有什么参赛原则，那就是：千万不要降级。

原因很简单，下赛季起，英超新的国内电视转播合同就将生效。根据2015年2月份的官方声明，2016至2019赛季之间的3个赛季，英超和俱乐部得到的合同金额是破纪录的51亿英镑。

天空电视台（Sky）在竞标中，以42亿英镑的价格拿下了7个电视转播套餐中的5个，竞争对手BT则用9.6亿英镑竞拍得到另外二项。总体而言，新合同的价值比双方上一份合同高出了71%。

一些评论员由此预计，即便是下赛季英超排名垫底的球队，也可以获得1亿英镑以上的英超奖金分成，这就是为什么本赛季英超球队坚决要避免降级的命运。

新的电视转播合同帮助俱乐部获得更加丰厚的财务回报，而作为英超主流消费模式的卫星电视也同样如此。事实确实如此，除非住在大不列颠的人们向Sky或BT支付订阅费用，不然他们就无法在未来3年看任何英超赛事。

这种现象并不新鲜，英超俱乐部的富有和全球存在感都是建立在卫星电视这个平台上的。对于那些只能观看地区性无线电视的英国人，他们一般只好通过观看英超集锦来满足自己。

不过，英国电视直播足球的历史与现状截然不同。俱乐部赛事和国家队比赛分别由BBC在1937年和1938年进行了第一次录播，而第一场俱乐部赛事的电视现场直播，则发生在1946年。

尽管如此，接下来的十年只有部分的国家队赛事和足总杯决赛在电视上转播。具有重大意义的是，后者在日后成为了英国体育的“王冠（Crown Jewels）”赛事并延续至今。

所谓“王冠”赛事，是指极少部分，被政府定义为对国家认同感和社会幸福感有重要促进意义的赛事，因此在法律上，此类赛事不可以在付费电视上独家播放。因此，足总杯甚至到今天都是在无线电视直播的。

60到70年代之间，英国对足球节目的胃口逐步成长，一些赛事集锦节目也在这段时间热播。与此同时，英足总也意识到了全世界对英国足球的兴趣。

▲ 莱斯特城这支球队的异军突起使英超精彩程度大增。

由此，这段时间也因为英国体育赛事海外版权的热销而著名。在某种程度上，这先行一步所获得的竞争优势也解释了为什么如今英国足球的商业力量会排在与其竞争的欧洲其他联赛之上。

到了80年代后期，得益于英国电视节目对现场直播需求的增强，这种竞争优势得到了扩大。其结果就是电视版权价格的巨大上涨。1988年，ITV(一家独立电视公司)以4400万英镑购买了4年的电视版权。而在1983年，两年的合同只花了520万英镑。

版权价格的激增预示了一些事件的到来；1992年，当英国的顶级联赛被重新打造并以“英超”的形式推出，天空电视台成功拍得电视转播版权。此举标志着足球转播从无线电视转至卫星电视，与此同时，这也史无前例的使得更多比赛在不同时间段（大部分比赛在周日和周一下午），在电视上被转播。

1992年，英超和天空电视台最开始的合同价值1.91亿英镑；而天空电视台与英超签下2004至2007赛季的电视转播合同时，和同价值已增至10.2亿英镑。在此期间，英国国内和欧洲赛事机构开始紧密关注天空电视台和英超是如何完成电视转播合同的买卖业务的。

由此产生的效应是，从2007年开始的新一轮英超电视转播权由一支市场新军Setanta和天空电视台以17亿英镑一同购得。到了2013年，前身是国家电信公司的BT成为了另外一支进入市场的新军。天空电视台和BT共同购得版权，价格总值31亿英镑，两家公司分享赛事转播版权。

当国内的版权价格在急剧地增长，海外转播收益也在增加。1992年，英超将赛事版权出售至200多个国家，赚得3800万英镑。到2016年，这个数字有望达到11亿英镑，甚至更多。

有很多原因可以解释为什么英超可以成为此等现象级的商业体，一个原因是英国一直对出售版权至海外市场持开放态度，德甲就做不到英超这样的态度。

同时，英超和英超俱乐部都很拥护调整开球时间以迎合国内和全球观众。一些如同西班牙一样正在遭受经济危机的联赛，其失败的原因正是因为没有对变化的市场和不同地区球迷的需求做出回应。

同样地，因为历史上西班牙俱乐部往往以单个球队的形式谈判电视转播合同，而英国俱乐部则通过英超以整体的形式谈判转播合同。对转播方来说，这使英超成为了更具吸引力的产品，从而加强了英超和球队的谈判筹码。

当然，这种转播权的销售模式也存在着诸多为题，比较显著的是俱乐部将转播版权的控制权让给了英超。一些人也质疑英超分配奖金的方法是否合理、公正和可接受。话虽如此，一些关于俱乐部从英超分离出来的传言并不意味着他们对现在的制度存在着不满。

展望未来，英超转播合同还会继续上涨，一些天空电视台的竞争对手花了很长时间来监测市场，特别包括探索频道（Discovery）、半岛电视台（Al Jazeera）和ESPN。同时，数字科技和社交媒体的进步也意味着市场并不缺少机会。

因此，至少在不短的时间内，我们仍然可以期待英超继续成为全球最吸引人的赛事转播之一。

➤➤英文原文：

If there has been a guiding principle forEnglish football’s Premier League (PL) clubs this season it is this: ‘don’t getrelegated at the end of the season’.

The reason for this is very clear; at thestart of next season, the PL’s new domestic television deal begins. Announcedin February 2015, the deal is a record breaking one worth £5.1 billion to thePremier League and its clubs between 2016 and 2019.

Sky paid £4.2 billion for five of seven TV packages on offer, whilerival BT paid £960 million for the other two in a TV rights auction. In total,the deals are worth 71% more than Sky and BT’s previous contracts with the PL.

Some commentators have therefore predicted that even the club finishingin last place at the end of next season’s league will be likely to earn upwardsof £100 million in PL prize money alone. This is why for clubs in this season’sPL relegation has not been an option.

While the financial returns associated with being a PL club have beenstrengthened by the new deal, so too has the PL’s main mode of consumption –satellite television. Indeed, unless someone in Great Britain pays asubscription to either Sky or BT, they will be unable to watch any games liveon their television over the next three years.

Yet this situation is nothing new, satellite television has been theplatform upon which the financial power and global presence has been built. Forthose British people who only have terrestrial television at their disposal,then they normally have to satisfy themselves with watching short edited PLhighlights programmes.

The history of football on British television is rather different thoughfrom the current situation. Club and international games were first broadcaston the BBC (the country’s state broadcaster) in 1937 and 1938 respectively. Thefirst live club game was then broadcast on television during 1946.

However, for the next decade little football was shown on television,part from England internationals and the Football Association (FA) Cup Final.Significantly, the latter became one of British sport’s ‘Crown Jewels’, aposition the competition retains today.

The ‘Crown Jewels’ is a small number of sporting competitions that arethought by the government to be so important to national identity and socialwell-being that, by law, they cannot be shown exclusively on pay-TV channels.Hence, the FA Cup even today is broadcast on terrestrial television.

Throughout the 1960s and 70s, the appetite for football on televisiongrew in Britain and several highlights format programme emerged during thisperiod. At the same time, the English FA always became aware of significantglobal interest in its football.

The period was therefore also characterised by a growing number ofoverseas broadcasters acquiring the rights to show English games. In part, thisfirst-mover competitive advantage explains why English football today retainsits commercial power ahead of its rival European leagues.

By the late 1980s, such had been the rise in demand for televisedEnglish football that games were increasingly being shown live on television.This was reflected in a massive increase in the value of television rights. In1988, ITV (an independent television company) acquired the rights in a fouryear deal worth £44 million. In 1983, a two year deal had cost only £5.2million.

This proliferation in values was a portent of things to come; in 1992, asthe English First Division was re-branded and re-launched as the PL, Skysuccessfully bid for the television rights. This marked the move of footballfrom terrestrial to satellite TV and at the same time resulted in more gamesthan ever before being shown on television, and at different times too (mostnotably Sundays and Monday evenings).

In 1992, its original deal with Sky cost £191 million; by the time Skysigned its deal with the PL for the period 2004-2007, the new deal’s value hadincreased to £1.02 billion. Around that time though, domestic and Europeancompetition authorities had started to pay close attention to the way in whichSky and the PL were buying and selling television contracts.

As a consequence, in the next deal running from 2007 the PL soldtelevision rights to both Sky and a new market entrant, Setanta, for £1.7billion. By 2013, another company had entered the market – BT, the former statetelecommunications company. With Sky and BT successfully bidding, this deal wasworth £3.1 billion, both companies sharing the right to broadcast games.

While rights values were surging dramatically at home, overseasbroadcasting revenues were also growing. In 1992, the PL made £38 million byselling the rights to show games in more than 200 countries; by 2016, thisfigure is expected to be £1.1 billion or more.

There are several reasons why the PL has become such a commercialphenomenon. One reason is that the English have always been open to sellingrights overseas, in a way that the likes of Germany’s Bundesliga has not.

At the same time, the PL and its clubs have embraced the idea of needingto change kick-off times to suit TV audiences, both domestically and overseas.In countries such as Spain, leagues have suffered financially by failing torespond to the changing nature and location of TV audiences.

Similarly, whereas Spanish clubs have historically negotiated televisionrights deals on an individual basis, English clubs negotiate as a collectivethrough the PL. This creates a more compelling product proposition forbroadcasters to buy, while strengthening the negotiating position of the PL andits members.

There are clearly some issues with this model of selling rights, notablythat clubs effectively cede control of broadcast rights revenue generation tothe PL. Some also question whether the way in which the PL allocates suchrevenues is appropriate, fair or acceptable. That said, any talk of clubsbreaking away from the PL is non-existent implying their general satisfactionwith the current system.

Looking ahead, one can only see further growth in the value of PLtelevision rights values. Several rivals to Sky have long been monitoring themarket, most notably including Discovery, Al Jazeera and ESPN. At the sametime, developments in digital technology and the likes of social media willpresent ongoing opportunities.

In the medium-term at least, we should therefore expect the PL to retainits position as one of the world’s most appealing broadcasting properties.

作者简介：西蒙·查德威克，任教于英国索尔福德大学，被聘为“92班“教授，教授“体育企业”，“体育战略”等课程。同时他还担任2022卡塔尔世界杯研究项目主任。与西蒙·查德威克教授合作过的世界顶级体育组织包括巴塞罗那足球俱乐部、欧足联、德国足球甲级联赛、阿迪达斯、米其林、国际网球联合会、德勤和Repucom。

Simon Chadwick is 'Class of 92' Professor of Sports Enterprise at Salford University Manchester and Director of Research for the 2022 Qatar World Cup. He has worked with many of the world's leading sports organisations including FC Barcelona, UEFA, the Bundesliga, Adidas, Michelin Motorsport, the International Tennis Federation, Deloitte and Repucom.

·END·

声明：文中观点仅代表作者本人观点，不代表懒熊体育。