THE English Premier League (EPL), football’s wealthiest division, has long seemed like an ever-quickening fountain of riches. Between 2010 and 2017 the EPL’s annual income doubled to roughly £4.4bn ($6.2bn) according to Deloitte, a consultancy. The fastest growth in that period came from domestic broadcasting revenues for live matches, which almost trebled, from £594m a year to £1.71bn. This year’s auction for the right to show games on British television between 2019 and 2022 was expected to deliver yet another rise, thanks to an increase in games on sale from 168 to 200 and rumoured interest from online giants like Amazon and Facebook. Instead, the EPL revealed on February 13th that it had accepted underwhelming bids from its usual customers and held back some of its broadcasting packages, which reportedly failed to hit the reserve price—the first time that this has happened in the competition’s 26-year history.
Domestic demand to televise the Premier League might have peaked