[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by jfman

And this is the crux of my point - they were absolutely going to fall again. Sky called it last time that there would be nobody out there to match their 2016 offer. Similarly there's nobody out there to match the 2019 offer.

BT are on record that they are trying to reduce their sports rights expenditure. The only way the rights would go up is a new entrant, or Amazon wanting to commit beyond their bargain basement rights they have just now.

If there was a genuine chance of a DAZN, Netflix, Facebook or Google bid we would be heading to auction. Spoiler: there isn't.

I am not disputing that. All I have said is that the reason for the decision not to go for an auction this time around is the uncertainty brought about by Covid.

---------- Post added at 12:30 ---------- Previous post was at 12:28 ----------

Originally Posted by Raider999

But the fact there wasn't an auction presumably means OB will carry over his usual prediction of a streamer bidding for the meaningful packages to the next auction.

Well, what else would you expect? If there is no auction, things remain the same.

Unforeseen events have a habit of disrupting predictions.