A Sky Sports deal with Zuffa Boxing would expose their rank hypocrisy

The day is Sunday 18 April 2021, and Manchester United are playing at home to Burnley in an empty Old Trafford due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. The match is the second Premier League game of the day and the flagship game on Sky Sports' Super Sunday. Martin Tyler and Gary Neville are on commentary duty for Sky, with Dave Jones, Roy Keane and Micah Richards in the studio in London, and a football news story is breaking that is about to rock the very foundations of the sport.

Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City were set to join the European Super League, as 6 of the 12 founder members of a new midweek competition, breaking away from UEFA. At this point the news was unconfirmed by any of the six clubs or their partners in Europe.

In commentary Tyler and Neville slammed the news, and then following the game Gary Neville gave this reaction: "I am a Manchester United fan, and have been for forty years of my life, but I am disgusted, absolutely disgusted. I am disgusted with Manchester United and Liverpool most. Liverpool pretend, you'll never walk alone, the people's club, the fans club.

Manchester United, 100 years, a workers club, born out of fans from around here, and they are breaking away into a league without competition, that they can't be relegated from. It's an absolute disgrace, and honestly we have to wrestle back the power in this country from the clubs at the top of this league. I have been calling for 12 months for an Independent regulator to put in checks and balances to stop this from happening. It's pure greed, they are imposters. The owners of this club, the owners of Liverpool, the owners of Chelsea, the owners of Manchester City, they are nothing to do with Football in this country.

There is a100 year history of fans who have lived and loved these clubs. and the fans need protecting. I am not against money in football, but the principles and ethos of fair competition, and the rights to play the game so that Leicester win the League and they go into the Champions League, Arsenal aren't even in the Champions League, Tottenham aren't in the Champions League, and they want a God-given right to be in there!

They are an absolute joke. The time has come now, Independent regulator, stop these clubs having the power-base. Enough is enough."

He went on to say more during the live broadcast and in his post-match podcast on the Sky Sports YouTube channel.

"Deduct them all points, put them at the bottom of the league and take their money off them"

"You have got to stamp on this, it is a criminal act against English football"

"What world are these people living in?"

From that moment football fans waited with baited breath, with the news still not being confirmed by anyone, and then at 11.15pm that night, a statement was released by each of the founder member clubs, and it read:

Twelve of Europe’s leading football clubs have today come together to announce they have agreed to establish a new midweek competition, the Super League, governed by its Founding Clubs.

AC Milan, Arsenal FC, Atlético de Madrid, Chelsea FC, FC Barcelona, FC Internazionale Milano, Juventus FC, Liverpool FC, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid CF and Tottenham Hotspur have all joined as Founding Clubs. It is anticipated that a further three clubs will join ahead of the inaugural season, which is intended to commence as soon as practicable.

Going forward, the Founding Clubs look forward to holding discussions with UEFA and FIFA to work together in partnership to deliver the best outcomes for the new League and for football as a whole.

The formation of the Super League comes at a time when the global pandemic has accelerated the instability in the existing European football economic model. Further, for a number of years, the Founding Clubs have had the objective of improving the quality and intensity of existing European competitions throughout each season, and of creating a format for top clubs and players to compete on a regular basis.

The pandemic has shown that a strategic vision and a sustainable commercial approach are required to enhance value and support for the benefit of the entire European football pyramid. In recent months extensive dialogue has taken place with football stakeholders regarding the future format of European competitions. The Founding Clubs believe the solutions proposed following these talks do not solve fundamental issues, including the need to provide higher-quality matches and additional financial resources for the overall football pyramid.

COMPETITION FORMAT

•20 participating clubs with 15 Founding Clubs and a qualifying mechanism for a further five teams to qualify annually based on achievements in the prior season.

•Midweek fixtures with all participating clubs continuing to compete in their respective national leagues, preserving the traditional domestic match calendar which remains at the heart of the club game.

•An August start with clubs participating in two groups of ten, playing home and away fixtures, with the top three in each group automatically qualifying for the quarter finals. Teams finishing fourth and fifth will then compete in a two-legged play-off for the remaining quarter-final positions. A two-leg knockout format will be used to reach the final at the end of May, which will be staged as a single fixture at a neutral venue.

As soon as practicable after the start of the men’s competition, a corresponding women’s league will also be launched, helping to advance and develop the women’s game.

The new annual tournament will provide significantly greater economic growth and support for European football via a long-term commitment to uncapped solidarity payments which will grow in line with league revenues. These solidarity payments will be substantially higher than those generated by the current European competition and are expected to be in excess of €10 billion during the course of the initial commitment period of the Clubs.

In addition, the competition will be built on a sustainable financial foundation with all Founding Clubs signing up to a spending framework. In exchange for their commitment, Founding Clubs will receive an amount of €3.5 billion solely to support their infrastructure investment plans and to offset the impact of the COVID pandemic.

Florentino Pérez, President Real Madrid CF and the first Chairman of the Super League said:

“We will help football at every level and take it to its rightful place in the world. Football is the only global sport in the world with more than four billion fans and our responsibility as big clubs is to respond to their desires.”

Backing the new European league, Andrea Agnelli, Chairman of Juventus and Vice-Chairman of the Super League said:

“Our 12 Founder clubs represent billions of fans across the globe and 99 European trophies. We have come together at this critical moment, enabling European competition to be transformed, putting the game we love on a sustainable footing for the long-term future, substantially increasing solidarity, and giving fans and amateur players a regular flow of headline fixtures that will feed their passion for the game while providing them with engaging role models.”

Joel Glazer, Co-Chairman of Manchester United and Vice-Chairman of the Super League said:

“By bringing together the world’s greatest clubs and players to play each other throughout the season, the Super League will open a new chapter for European football, ensuring world-class competition and facilities, and increased financial support for the wider football pyramid.”

Find out more at thesuperleague.com.

It was a truly gob-smacking moment, and potentially the biggest moment in the modern history of the sport.

On Monday evening Sky Sports flagship football programme, Monday Night Football, was extended by an hour and Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher joined Dave Jones in the studio to continue the discussion and criticism of the plans.

Neville's passionate opposition to the Super League was accompanied by round-the-clock coverage on Sky Sports News, and among all media in this country, it was Sky who provided the loudest and fiercest opposition to the planned Super League. Speaking during Super Sunday the host Dave Jones said something which gives a little bit of insight as to why Sky might be so opposed to the creation of the Super League: "These six clubs would need to have the permission of the Premier League to play in the Super League, and without it the six clubs would have to break away from the Premier League."

Sky has been the principal broadcast partner for the Premier League since its very creation in 1992, they are still the broadcaster of the vast majority of matches in the UK, and since 1992 have paid a combined figure in the region of £8-10billion over the last 33 years for Premier League rights in the UK. Premier League matches helped establish Sky as a business in the early 1990's and have since helped to retain subscribers in the streaming era. Without Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City (winners of all but 2 of the Premier League titles in the years between 1992 and 2021) the Premier League is much diminished. If these five clubs, plus Tottenham, are not playing in the Premier League, then Sky's ratings and subscriptions are likely to be greatly diminished, and potentially catastrophically for Sky.

Fast forward to 2022, and rumours are swirling of a new tour in the game of golf, known as the Super Golf League by some, and to become LIV Golf. Which broadcaster again shouted the loudest? It was of course, Sky Sports.

Sky, aside from 3 years when Setanta broke their hold, have been UK rights holders for PGA TOUR golf since 1992, so it was no surprise whatsoever to see them wage a war against LIV Golf both on screen and on their digital platforms, and it is a war which has continued until today.

Sky commentators are now part of the PGA TOUR's World Feed team, so impartiality has gone out of the window. But let's not make a mistake here, if Sky did not hold the rights to the PGA TOUR, DP World Tour, Masters, US Open, PGA Championship, The Open, Ryder Cup, Solheim Cup and LPGA, they would very much be in the mix to be the UK broadcaster of LIV Golf.

Don't believe me? Well let's look at Boxing.

Sky Sports was the undisputed home of Boxing on TV in the UK, they introduced Pay Per View boxing to the UK audience in the 1990's and they have been the broadcast partner to Frank Warren, Matchroom, TopRank and others over the last 35 years, including broadcasting some of the biggest fights in history. Bruno v Tyson 1 and 2, Lewis v Bruno, Bruno v McCall, Tyson v Holyfield 1 and 2, Lewis v Holyfield 1 and 2, Lewis v Tyson and Joshua v Klitschko among many others.

TNT Sports, and BT before them started to break Sky's dominance in Boxing, with an exclusive deal with Queensberry Promotions, covering Tyson Fury's trilogy with Deontay Wilder, and many other shows between 2017 and 2025. DAZN broke Sky's stranglehold on Matchroom with an exclusive global deal in 2021, which has since been extended through 2031, and this left Sky with deals with BOXXER and TOPRANK.

After BOXXER left for BBC, Sky currently does not show any Boxing at all.

For the first time in their history, Sky does not cover live Boxing.

Zuffa Boxing, like LIV Golf, is backed by Saudi Arabia. It's stated aims and mission is to destroy other promoters and, perhaps crucially, to destroy the WBC, WBO, WBA, and IBF. Zuffa Boxing wants to be the only show in town.

Upon launch Zuffa Boxing signed an exclusive US broadcast deal with Paramount+, and is currently being streamed for free on YouTube in many markets around the world, including the UK. Zuffa's stated aim is to take over from the WBC, WBA, WBO, and IBF, erasing decades of history and transforming the sport as we know it. Neither the Super League in Football, or LIV Golf in Golf ever aimed to do this, or would have had that kind of negative impact. Yet a UK-based Broadcaster in Sky Sports have managed to convince people that was going to be the case, and passionately made that argument.

Boxing King Media reported on Monday that "Zuffa are now close to finalising a multi-fight agreement with Sky Sports.

This partnership is expected to give the new outfit immediate mainstream visibility across Britain.

Notably, Sky’s previous boxing partnership with Boxxer came to an end in 2025, thereby leaving a significant gap in the schedule and opening the door for another major promotion to step in.

As a result, that vacancy has created a prime opportunity – one that Zuffa appears well-positioned to capitalise on by securing a highly sought-after slot with one of the UK’s most influential sports broadcasters."

It is quite remarkable.

Sky Sports are the channel that broadcasted the iconic moment when Lennox Lewis defeated Evander Holyfield in 1999 to become Britain's first Undisputed Heavyweight World Champion, and are now set to strike a deal with a promotion that has stated its wish to destroy the WBC, and the other governing bodies. The WBC belt is like the Claret Jug in Golf, and the other belts are equivalent to the other majors in the sport. Sky are doing what they have always done, they are looking after number one.

They astutely know that there is huge crossover between the Football fan and the Boxing fan, and they can use the Premier League coverage to promote their Zuffa Boxing coverage, and vice-versa. They need Boxing as part of the mix of sports which they cover, absolutely no doubt about it.

So do not be fooled. If Sky wasn't the principal partner of the Premier League they would have backed the Super League five years ago. If Sky wasn't the UK broadcaster of the PGA TOUR they would be broadcasting LIV Golf, no doubt about it. And if Sky hadn't lost Queensberry, Matchroom and BOXXER they wouldn't be touching Zuffa with a barge-pole. This is a business decision to save their ratings and falling subscription numbers, and it exposes the rank hypocrisy of their opposition to the Super League and LIV Golf.

SHANK, by Matt Hooper