Boehly believes Netflix could ‘maintain’ Premier League’s global success

Todd Boehly has said the Premier League should consider selling its global TV rights to Netflix, as he shrugged off tensions with supporters and questions over his model of ownership in rare public remarks. The Chelsea co-owner also called on Premier League executives to agree on priorities for the future of the competition, saying they should “pull together” in order to maintain its success. “Premier League content is so valuable because it’s so widely demanded,” Boehly said. “How many global platforms are there? Probably just Netflix. If you’re thinking about how do I launch a global product, you do it in partnership with content like this.

“If you really think about what it could do to unlock a global media platform, there’s nothing like this. I’m not saying that is the direct answer right this minute, but I think that’s where we’re headed.”. Boehly, who was speaking at the Financial Times Business of Football Summit in London, also mooted the idea of issuing shares in the Premier League to its member clubs each year, so as to give all promoted clubs a stake in the competition should they be relegated again. Asked about his tenure at Chelsea, however, he said he did not want “to look in the rear-view mirror” as he acknowledged a bumpy ride.

“If you look at the foundations that are being built: a new management team, new academy leadership, new sporting director leadership, new player mindset. Those things are all apparent in there. Now it’s about: how do you continue to cultivate the development of the team?” Boehly said.

“The reality is that the sooner you learn you’re not going to keep all the people happy all the time, the freedom shows up from that. I think you’re just trying to get on a plan and execute a plan and recognising that things aren’t linear, but as long as you’re trending in the right directions, in general, you feel better.”.

Also a co-owner of the current World Series champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, Boehly said that the Premier League could learn from US sport as it seeks to move beyond a period of discord, with the competition subject of legal action from its clubs. “The [Premier League] are figuring out how to get everyone to row simultaneously, and really be pulling for each other,” Boehly said. “Because I think if you look at what makes the NFL so special it’s that the owners are in lockstep and the commissioner is very good at recognising how valuable the NFL content is. And he speaks with one voice for a lot.”.

Sign up to Football Daily. Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football. after newsletter promotion. Earlier in the day, the Crystal Palace chair, Steve Parish, had played down discord between clubs, saying there was no civil war in the league, just owners being “civil”. But Parish did strongly criticise the imminent arrival of an independent regulator for the game, claiming it had “paralysed” investment in the Premier League.

“There are people that make the issues to be so much more than they are. But we do have a problem,” Parish said. “We’re now in a complete paralysis because the government has put the spectre of a regulator in front of us, basically paralysed the game, driven it into the courts. I don’t think that’s good.”.

“The Premier League is growing its media value, growing its appeal globally, and we need to take care of that. If we built the game from the ground up, you could have had a more American model, you could have pooled more revenue, but we don’t, that’s where we are. And you can see that clubs are using other ways to bridge that competitively. The game is getting more exciting because of that. So I think we’d all like to be more financially sustainable, and everybody’s working towards that. But we need to find exactly the right answer that doesn’t just get it wrong.”.