Daily Mail: Sky Sports to push for more than 200 top-flight games a season

Story from Daily Mail:

Sky Sports are expected to entrench their position as the home of Premier League football following the domestic TV rights auction, which is due to conclude next month.

Mail Sport has learned that Sky plan to bid for four of the five packages available, which would give them more than 200 live games a season from 2025 to 2029 if they are successful.

TNT Sports are understood to be prioritising retaining the Saturday lunchtime slot, with industry insiders casting doubt on whether the Discovery-owned company will be able to wrestle another package from Sky, who are aiming to keep hold of Saturday night games, two slots on Sundays and the combined Friday night/Monday night package.

Amazon Prime are expected to bid for the new-look 2pm Sunday slot, which will involve multiple games being screened simultaneously following midweek European fixtures, but Sky value having exclusivity on Sundays and will fight hard to retain them.

With the number of games available rising from 200 to 270, the Premier League are confident of securing an increase on the existing £5billion deal.

The Premier League could replace Hawk-Eye as their VAR operator at the end of next season when the contract is due to expire.

Rival technology and data companies are planning to pitch for the contract amid repeated complaints from Premier League managers.

The Premier League have worked with Hawk-Eye since introducing goal-line technology for the first time in 2013, with a new five-year contract between the two parties signed when VAR was introduced at the start of the 2019-20 season.

Hawk-Eye are still regarded as world leaders in capturing data after pioneering their ball-tracking system in tennis and cricket 15 years ago, but there is an acceptance that its application in football has proved challenging.

The FA's reluctance to enter into a collective bargaining agreement with the Lionesses has been highlighted by the generous financial packages offered by other federations.

Football Australia this week announced a four-year deal for the Matildas, which will see all prize money split 50/50 between the federation and the players, guaranteeing minimum salaries of £60,000 plus match fees and bonuses.

The Lionesses in contrast have yet to secure an agreement despite six months of talks with the FA, who only agreed to the squad's World Cup bonus demands a month after the tournament.

The FA say they have a good relationship with Sarina Wiegman and her England squad and that the demands are being pushed by the PFA rather than the players.

The Premier League's shortage of video assistant referees is being exacerbated by a bizarre IFAB rule which prevents assistant referees from acting as VARs.

Only top-flight referees and former referees are permitted to work as VARs despite the fact that the role has much in common with that of an assistant referee, as it often involves judging offsides and line calls.