Simon Jordan has told talkSPORT that whoever replaces Richard Scudamore as the executive chairman of the Premier League will be getting ‘the best job in football’.
Scudamore stepped down from his post in November, however, the organisation has yet to appoint a successor, something that has bemused the former Crystal Palace chairman.
Jordan went on to say how the Premier League has an opportunity to increase their revenue hugely by becoming a broadcaster in its own right.
He claimed the current broadcast deal, which is set to expire at the end of the 2018/19 season, gives the Premier League an opportunity to become the ‘Netflix of football’.
Speaking to Jim White on talkSPORT, Jordan said: “Let me be clear – this job [executive chairman of the Premier League] is the best job in football. Anyone who doesn’t have the gumption to do the job is a fool in my book.
“You’ve got a situation where the domestic rights are going backwards. I spoke at a BT and Sunday Telegraph conference about the business of football and it stunned me sat with the Liverpool’s and Tottenham’s of the world and the question was ‘what is the next frontier for football and its evolution financially?’ And the message back from the Tottenham and Liverpools were ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.’
“The challenges in football are so engaging and so interesting. In my view, the Premier League has the opportunity to become a broadcaster in its own right and dwarf the revenues it currently gets.
“If you look at the NFL, which is perceived as a super sports league, an average NFL team gets $255million – around £200m.
“The average English Premier League club gets around £120m.
“The opportunity for the Premier League is exhilarating and exciting for whoever wants to come and do this job.
“But they’ve got people like Bruce Buck heading it up who are part of the so-called ‘Big Six’ who have got their own agenda and these people turning down the job will be lobbied by the ‘Big Six’.
“I’ve spoken about the Premier League becoming the ‘Netflix of football’, ie, the video on demand platform that controls its own product.
“If you had 100 million subscribers on ‘Premier League TV’ like with Netflix at £8 a month, you’d be bringing in £10bn a year, not £8.7bn every three years like the current deal does.
“This is the most exciting, exhilarating job you could have in sport so why no one wants it is beyond me.
“Football’s got to own its own outcome and build its own platform and by becoming the Netflix of football you control your own destiny.”