Premier League boss Richard Masters pulled out of a high-end golf day with top execs from the game’s broadcast partners in a last-minute decision to focus on the crisis tearing apart English football.
The under-pressure chief executive was due to tee off with bigwigs from Sky Sports and a delegation from NBC at the exclusive Loch Lomond Golf Club in Scotland on Wednesday morning.
However, with the game gripped by civil war following thetop-flight’s legal battle with Manchester City over sponsorship rules, Masters decided to withdraw in what has been described as a ‘last-minute’ call ahead of a showdown emergency meeting with clubs next Thursday to discuss the fallout.
Former Premier League supremo Richard Scudamore was at the event and partnered Sky Sports director of football Gary Hughes – although league insiders have insisted Scudamore was not a replacement for Masters and that he was always going to attend.
Scudamore left the organisation in 2018 but advised it through the Super League crisis after his consultancy position was extended.
Masters’ no-show, at a high level shindig with all-important broadcasters who pay billions into the competition’s coffers, will have been a big call. Sky are the main players in a £6.7bn deal along with TNT and the BBC, while NBC will show matches in the vital US market until 2028, which will mark a 15-year partnership. A party of top NBC bosses are in the UK for a week of planning meetings.
Scudamore’s presence raised eyebrows at the swanky club, deemed one of the best courses in the world and regarded as one of the most difficult on which to secure a round.
Its former members include Sir Sean Connery while Sir Rod Stewart celebrated Celtic’s 2-1 win at Ross County there on Sunday. Registration can cost up to £100,000 with annual fees of around £7,000.
Masters will no doubt have spent the time preparing for the crunch, hastily-arranged summit which will take place next Thursday - and could bring face-to-face City’s legal counsel, Simon Cliff, with those who he lambasted in a blistering email on Monday night.
City claimed victory in a tribunal over rules the top-flight introduced on commercial deals with groups related to owners after an independent tribunal rules the unlawful.
However, in a summary to clubs Masters downplayed the significance of the ruling, claiming the panel had ‘identified a small number of discrete elements…which do not, in current form, comply with competition and public law requirements’. He added that changes could be ‘quickly and effectively be remedied’.
The Manchester club claimed they had a legal victory against Associated Party Transactions (APT) rules, but the Premier League has downplayed the significance of the verdict
Those claims were rubbished by Cliff, who emailed the 19 other clubs and the league itself, accusing the top-flight of providing ‘misleading’ and ‘inaccurate’ information. He rejected Masters’ suggestion new rules could be passed swiftly and warned of further, potentially costly, legal action.
No venue is thought to have yet been communicated to clubs. Big-hitters from across the league including the likes of Tottenham’s Daniel Levy are expected to attend, while some may dial in.