£125million Setanta Deal….. Is It Split 12-Ways?

This week the SPL announced a new £125million deal with Setanta Sports, but is this really good news for Dundee United?

The 4-year deal will run until 2014, which works out at around £31million per season to share between the 12 SPL clubs.

However, since both Rangers and Celtic make up the majority of live matches on Setanta, isn`t it more likely that the Old Firm sides will be the biggest beneficiaries of the new deal?

Not that Dundee United supporters can complain about the Setanta coverage last season, with 4 of the final 5 matches of the season shown live on the channel.

The current contract between the SPL and Setanta was worth £54.5 million, but the TV rights could have been worth even more if Rangers and Celtic hadn`t scared off Sky Sports several years back.

“£125m marks the biggest-ever TV deal in Scottish football history,” admitted SPL executive, Lex Gold, to the Setanta Sports website.

“Ten years ago, we spoke about delivering a brighter future for Scottish football. This will allow clubs to re-invest to make the Scottish game even stronger.”

“We have moved forward with Setanta Sports over the past four years. No commercial deal comes close to matching what has been achieved today by the SPL and Setanta Sports for our game.”