Leeds owner starts legal action against Football League

One thing that you can guarantee about Leeds United under the stewardship of current owner Massimo Cellino is that they are never far from the headlines, this trend continuing with news from the Mail on Sunday.

The collective deal between Sky TV and the 72 Football League clubs, brokered by the Football League themselves, is thought to be worth in the region of £100m and is a main income stream for a lot of the 72 Football League clubs, clubs who would suffer should Leeds United and Massimo Cellino prove successful in their endeavour to win the right to sell the rights to their own matches, in a position similar to that practised by Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid – until a new law passed  in May 2015 prested the two giants into a collective bargaining system akin to the one Leeds United and the other 71 Football League clubs are currently in.

Leeds’ initial refusal to allow the Sky TV camera crews into Elland Road for the game against Derby, in protest at the number of Elland Road games being shown by the broadcasting giants, was the initial shot across the bows from Massimo Cellino. Cellino relented but stated his anger in a vociferous manner at Sky.

Leeds are said to have instigated proceedings against the Football League to break the collective rights agreement, in doing so earning themselves what was termed a ‘rights of arena’ agreement in Spain. Although the proceedings were under a temporary hiatus, The Mail on Sunday mention that, “Leeds’ Championship match at home to Middlesbrough tomorrow is only going ahead after the Football League was forced to take out a legal injunction against Leeds to make them honour the fixture.”

Further to this, and again according to The Mail on Sunday, a meeting was held in Milton Keynes where representatives of all 72 clubs were briefed by Football League chief executive Shaun Harvey. Harvey briefed the clubs on what the newspaper says what had “hitherto been a secret legal dispute with Leeds and Cellino.”

With Leeds United being arguably one of the ‘biggest clubs outside of the Premier League’, breaking the collective bargaining agreement between the 72 Football League clubs and Sky TV would have many knock/on ramifications. Leeds would have the rights to negotiate their own TV deals in a move that would see the income from broadcast rise from a figure of around “£2m to perhaps tens of millions” according to the article in The Mail on Sunday. The main worry would be the other ‘bigger clubs’ following Leeds’ march and securing their own deals whilst the smaller league clubs would end up suffering.

Representatives of the other 71 clubs were left aghast, according to The Mail on Sunday, as Shaun Harvey explained that a successful challenge by Leeds United would likely destroy the league’s current five-year agreement with Sky, an agreement still in its first year.

Leeds were represented at the meeting by new executive director Paul Bell and a club lawyer. The Mail on Sunday report that Bell gave an impassioned defence of Leeds’ position over the over-televising of Leeds games on Sky but go on to say that, “executives from rival Championship clubs vented their fury at the Leeds representatives at the meeting.” 

The Mail on Sunday said that both the Football League and Leeds United were contacted and invited to make comment. They reported that the Football League declined to do so due to “legal reasons” whilst Leeds United declined saying they were “unable to comment.”

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