[andy_m]

Originally Posted by Chad

This is a good read:

http://www.offthetelly.co.uk/?page_id=538

Tells the story of how live top flight football jumped from ITV to SKY back in 1992. In 1988 ITV paid £11 million for the live rights. In 1992 SKY's bid was £304 million.

Would the English Premiership be the league it is today if it wasn't for the SKY money? I firmly believe the English Premiership is the house that SKY built.

I don't know, but I do know that English football as a whole would be healthier and probably less prone to financial management in pursuit of the money the Premier League (not EPL or English Premier League, thank you very much!) brings. A season where the club that wins the FA Cup, but has to effectively give up on the resulting European place because regaining its Premier League place is more important than anything else, and that is solely because of the money involved, just makes me a bit sad, really.