The Premier League has been urged to “fully interrogate” Newcastle United’s proposed £300m takeover by one of its largest worldwide broadcast partners, beIN Sport.
The head of the Qatar-based TV giant, CEO Yousef al-Obaidly, has written to chairpersons of all top-flight clubs about the deal, which could see the Magpies bought by a Saudi-backed consortium.
In the letter, Al-Obaidly accuses the Saudi Arabian government of the “facilitation of the near three-year theft of the Premier League’s commercial rights – and in turn your club’s commercial revenues – through its backing of the huge-scale beoutQ pirate service”.
“It is no exaggeration to say that the future economic model of football is at stake,” added Al-Obaidly, who has also written to Premier League chief executive Richard Masters. (Text and photo courtesy BBC)