WEBVTT - Premier League CEO Talks US Tour

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

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<v Speaker 2>Let's turn to sports. Deep breath, can calm down? Now

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<v Speaker 2>the world's most watched football league making its way across

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<v Speaker 2>the Atlantic. The English Premier League is playing six matches

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<v Speaker 2>for sold out crowds in New Jersey, Chicago, and Atlanta

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<v Speaker 2>this summer, the series kicking off this past weekend with

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<v Speaker 2>Manchester United beating West Ham Joining US. Now, I'm very

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<v Speaker 2>pleased to say the CEO of the English Premier League,

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<v Speaker 2>Richard Masters, Richard Kimonic, good morning, thank you for having me.

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<v Speaker 2>Welcome to the studio here in New York. It's going

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<v Speaker 2>to see you, sir. Let's just talk about your involvement

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<v Speaker 2>in the sport. I think it's almost twenty years of

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<v Speaker 2>direct involvement with the Premier League. Are you surprised by

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<v Speaker 2>the amount of growth we've seen, Not in the UK,

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<v Speaker 2>forget all of that, the amount of growth we've seen

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<v Speaker 2>in America.

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<v Speaker 1>Yep, twenty years next January at the Premier League, seven

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<v Speaker 1>years at CEO in December. What's the Premier League gets?

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<v Speaker 1>Get bigger and bigger and bigger, and out here in

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<v Speaker 1>the US we've got a fantastic broadcast relationships NBC. We've

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<v Speaker 1>opened offices here in New York. We're committed to the game.

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<v Speaker 1>About thirty percent of the US population not interested in

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<v Speaker 1>soccer or football, and about two thirds of those follow

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<v Speaker 1>the Premier League, and that's a brilliant foundation which to

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<v Speaker 1>growth reason. We're out here with six of our teams

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<v Speaker 1>playing matches to give our fans a taste of the

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<v Speaker 1>Premier League.

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<v Speaker 2>As a Britain New York I can tell you the

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<v Speaker 2>experience of NBC is amazing. I get to wake up

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<v Speaker 2>on a Saturday morning on a Sunday and I get

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<v Speaker 2>to watch absolutely everything. That's not the experience in the

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<v Speaker 2>UK with Sky It's a very different experience. You only

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<v Speaker 2>get to watch so much. Why do we get to

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<v Speaker 2>see so much more through NBC than maybe fans in

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<v Speaker 2>the UK get to see at home.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, in the UK, the matches between two and five

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<v Speaker 1>o'clock on a Saturday afternoon, which is the traditional time

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<v Speaker 1>to go and watch football in the country, aren't broadcast.

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<v Speaker 1>So it's not just the Premier League, the FL as

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<v Speaker 1>well aren't broadcast and that's part of the decision we've made.

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<v Speaker 1>It's long term commitment to what's called Article forty eight.

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<v Speaker 1>But anywhere else outside of the UK, it's all three

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<v Speaker 1>hundred and eighty games throughout the season you can watch.

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<v Speaker 1>And of course here in the US, as you say,

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<v Speaker 1>there are millions of people getting up on a Saturday

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<v Speaker 1>and Sunday morning watching their favorite team and you can

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<v Speaker 1>sit there from seven ams lunchtime watch the entire thing

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<v Speaker 1>if you want to, and that's a brilliant thing for us.

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<v Speaker 3>Does it kind of hurt your soul to say soccer

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<v Speaker 3>instead of football?

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<v Speaker 1>Not at all. I think they're interchangeable. When I grew up,

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<v Speaker 1>I grew up in the Midlands, I watched soccer Sunday

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<v Speaker 1>on Star Soccer rather on a Sunday lunchtime, So it's interchangeable. Yea.

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<v Speaker 3>At this point, though, does it dilute the big player's

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<v Speaker 3>ability to really commit to not only a team but

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<v Speaker 3>a season if they're playing at all times in all

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<v Speaker 3>places and their bodies have to be exhausted at a

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<v Speaker 3>certain point.

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<v Speaker 1>Now that's true. I mean there is a start of

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<v Speaker 1>players at the top of the game who are playing

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<v Speaker 1>a lot, and it's a big issue within the game.

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<v Speaker 1>The Premier League, obviously, since ninety four, has been twenty

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<v Speaker 1>clubs to in ginety Games August to May. But we've

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<v Speaker 1>seen the gradual expansion of European competitions and now global

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<v Speaker 1>competitions as well. Next summer, the US will host the

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<v Speaker 1>World Cup, first time forty eight teams, and of course

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<v Speaker 1>in the last timemeer, we've seen the Club World Cup,

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<v Speaker 1>a brand new competition put into the calendar. And I

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<v Speaker 1>think that from my perspective, not just as CEO the

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<v Speaker 1>Premier League, but also my other role as chair of

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<v Speaker 1>the World League Association, which is about representing domestic leagues

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<v Speaker 1>around the world, there has to be a big conversation

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<v Speaker 1>now about how you balance this out properly and make

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<v Speaker 1>sure that players are looked after and that these competitions

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<v Speaker 1>are additive and not subtractive from the competitions they bump into.

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<v Speaker 2>Well's have the conversation right now. I can speak as

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<v Speaker 2>a fan. I hate it. I don't want to see

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<v Speaker 2>an expanded FIFA Club World Cup. In fact, for most

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<v Speaker 2>fans of the English Premier League, we get annoyed whenever

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<v Speaker 2>there's an international break. We don't want to see more tournaments.

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<v Speaker 2>What we loved was just the cadence of every two

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<v Speaker 2>years you had a major tournament. The Euro's the World Cup,

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<v Speaker 2>the Euro's the World cub. Why have we gotten away

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<v Speaker 2>from there? And what's your message to FEF to your

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<v Speaker 2>wafer As in the minds of many fans, they just

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<v Speaker 2>seem to be chasing money, the expense of the game

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<v Speaker 2>and maybe the player's health.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, the message is talk. You know that there is

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<v Speaker 1>actually strong dialogue between domestic leagues in Europe and new

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<v Speaker 1>about competitions and that's a coalition of stakeholders, clubs, leagues,

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<v Speaker 1>club players as well talking about it. That dialogue doesn't

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<v Speaker 1>happen at the top of the game, and it should do.

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<v Speaker 1>So that's the key message. Sit down and talk to

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<v Speaker 1>the leagues, talk to all the stakeholders and find a

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<v Speaker 1>way through all of this because it has to. It

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<v Speaker 1>has a limit, and I think we've gone past it.

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<v Speaker 1>We've gone past saturation point. My job, obviously is to

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<v Speaker 1>look after the Premier League and we're going great guns,

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<v Speaker 1>thank you very much. And I want the purity of

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<v Speaker 1>that competition to remain. I want people to be able

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<v Speaker 1>to enjoy that, enjoy their football because I want the

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<v Speaker 1>best players on the pitch all the time in the

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<v Speaker 1>Premier League and not worrying about to how to balance

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<v Speaker 1>everything out.

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<v Speaker 2>Let's talk about the purity of the game. It's a

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<v Speaker 2>polarizing topic and very controversial, as you know. Manchester City

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<v Speaker 2>and this number one hundred and fifteen the number of

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<v Speaker 2>charges for alleged breaches of financial regulations. What can you

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<v Speaker 2>share with us this morning about where things stand.

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<v Speaker 1>Nothing is truth. The case was heard last year, and

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<v Speaker 1>we wait for the decision to be made. We can't

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<v Speaker 1>hurry the people whose job it is to make that decision,

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<v Speaker 1>and it will happen when it happens, and I don't

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<v Speaker 1>know when it's going to be. We'll find out with

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<v Speaker 1>everybody else.

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<v Speaker 2>What's your sense of why it's taking so long?

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<v Speaker 1>I don't know, and it's difficult for me to speculate.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm sorry.

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<v Speaker 2>It's just difficult for a lot of people in the

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<v Speaker 2>game who follow the game to see how quickly things

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<v Speaker 2>concluded with a club like Everton and how long it's

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<v Speaker 2>taken with a club like Manchester City. And some people

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<v Speaker 2>can't help but conclude that maybe different clubs are being

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<v Speaker 2>treated differently because of these status they have in the

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<v Speaker 2>Premier League.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, well, I do want to sign of the frustration and

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<v Speaker 1>share some of those but in the end, This process

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<v Speaker 1>is very different. These allegations are very different. Makes it

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<v Speaker 1>different to you. They just said the charge themselves and

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<v Speaker 1>the number of them. But I can't really get into it.

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<v Speaker 1>I really can't talk about and you.

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<v Speaker 2>Can't get into the details. But do you think it's

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<v Speaker 2>hurting the reputation of the league?

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<v Speaker 1>Well, at the center of this is a football competition,

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<v Speaker 1>and I think people want to be basically watch the football.

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<v Speaker 1>That's the main event. And when you get dragged into

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<v Speaker 1>whatever it may be financial affairs, I think people think

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<v Speaker 1>that maybe there's something going wrong here. I do accept

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<v Speaker 1>all of that, but the competition remains strong, the economics

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<v Speaker 1>the PREMI League remain strong, and fundamentally, as long as

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<v Speaker 1>we can put the best players on the pitch and

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<v Speaker 1>give people a fantastic competition, I think we can get

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<v Speaker 1>through this period.

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<v Speaker 3>I've been an outsider and I've been studying the rules

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<v Speaker 3>of the game and the sustainability rule that kind of

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<v Speaker 3>led to this investigation into Man's City and this idea

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<v Speaker 3>that a club has to bring in and just spend

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<v Speaker 3>the same amount of money that it brings in. Do

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<v Speaker 3>you think that that rule has become outdated or unenforceable

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<v Speaker 3>in any kind of real time way.

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<v Speaker 1>So if you're talking about the financial regulations within football,

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<v Speaker 1>our clubs are all really subject to two sets of regulations,

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<v Speaker 1>our own, the profitably and sustainability rules and also u

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<v Speaker 1>waifers rules, So they're looking at two sets of financial

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<v Speaker 1>rules to comply with, and essentially in England our rules

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<v Speaker 1>are there. It's a spending rule really about profitability. So

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<v Speaker 1>there is the ability to invest and that's what we

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<v Speaker 1>want our clubs to do. We've got a fantastic set

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<v Speaker 1>of owners that invest in the stadiums, in fan experience

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<v Speaker 1>and players on the pitch, and that's what we want. Weever,

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<v Speaker 1>as I said, the great set of owners that want

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<v Speaker 1>to invest, and so there has to be a limit

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<v Speaker 1>ultimately to ensure we've got a competitive league, which we

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<v Speaker 1>do have. So I think we're known as look at

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<v Speaker 1>investing in the Premier League. They can see that you

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<v Speaker 1>can aspire to do better in the league and now

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<v Speaker 1>see more clubs qualifying for European competition. Our clubs are

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<v Speaker 1>incredibly successful in Europe and that's all down to investment.

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<v Speaker 1>So there has to be a limit ultimately on what

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<v Speaker 1>you can spend. Clubs have all signed up to these

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<v Speaker 1>rules and we are enforcing them.

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<v Speaker 3>Well, how much does the Saudi League really kind of,

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<v Speaker 3>I don't know, skew the financials of this in a

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<v Speaker 3>way that creates a sort of complicated dynamic.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, the Saudi League is in investment phrase Sally League

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<v Speaker 1>has been around for many decades and now we're seeing

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<v Speaker 1>local investment into that and they're becoming very active in

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<v Speaker 1>the marketplace. Sometimes that good for Premier leau clubs. Sometimes

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<v Speaker 1>they take clubs, take players that premier leage clubs want

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<v Speaker 1>to sign. It's just a new dynamic and we have

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<v Speaker 1>to observe it and we have to cope with it.

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<v Speaker 2>Richard, you'll be generous with your time. We appreciate it.

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<v Speaker 2>Thanks for dropping by, Thanks for having me. Thank you

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<v Speaker 2>very much for being here. Richard Master is there, the

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<v Speaker 2>English Premier League CEO