If you want to better understand the Premier League’s position on digital rights, go ahead and read Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore’s letter that was published in The Guardian last week on the topic of The Digital Economy Bill. The proposed legislation would kick accused, not convicted, file sharers off the Internet in the United Kingdom.

Scudamore’s letter, which reads like it was written by a PR agency, is laughable because it once again shows out of touch the Premier League is with reality and how behind the times they are with their digital strategy.

Here are some highlights from Scudamore’s letter:

“Currently, it is estimated that more than 6 million people illegally fileshare regularly, and the UK leads the world in illegal downloads of TV programmes, with up to 25% of all online TV piracy taking place here.”

I’d like to see the source for the above claim because I find it incredibly hard to believe that approximately 25% of all online TV piracy takes place in the United Kingdom.

“The reality is that unauthorised peer-to-peer filesharing, among other forms of illegal streaming, presents a very real threat. These burgeoning industries are based on a high-investment model, driving consumer demand – or in the Premier League’s case, fan demand – by providing what the public want: a quality product. In football, this entails acquiring, or developing, the best possible talent and playing the matches in arguably the finest club stadiums in the world. The whole industry benefits.”

Yes, P2P filesharing is a threat to the Premier League but it’s only a threat because the Premier League has failed to provide an online product that will satisfy the demand. If football supporters want to watch the Premier League online legally, the service is only available on a region-by-region basis from companies who have the Internet broadband rights for that area. The product and service, for the most part, are poor.

In the United States, for example, the only Premier League games we can watch live online and legally are on Setanta-i — which offers one game on Saturday and one game on Sunday. The other eight Premier League games each weekend cannot be viewed live online.

The reality is that I believe the Premier League doesn’t really care about creating a successful broadband package for football supporters around the world. The league is so much in bed with the TV companies which represents the lionshare of revenue for the 20 Premier League clubs that the last thing they want to do is to dilute the value of the TV rights by making games easily accessible online.

However, the reality is that there will come a time real soon where the demand for people to watch the Premier League online will be so great that it cannot be ignored. Until then, the Premier League will continue to milk the TV companies of as much money as they can. Sure, television is not going away and will remain the preferred method of watching Premier League matches for most people. But I believe that the Premier League is leaving a lot of money on the table by not truly embracing the digital world and creating a quality broadband package. There is a way for the Premier League to have their cake and eat it too where TV rights and broadband subscription services can generate massive incomes for the league, but it seems to be that the Premier League doesn’t want to go down that path while the going is good.

For a much more detailed and critical analysis of Scudamore’s letter, read the Techdirt article entitled “If We Don’t Kick People Off The Internet For File Sharing, Football Will Die” and be sure to read the comments there for some excellent points made by the Techdirt readers. Also be sure to read Cory Doctorow’s excellent article on the proposed bill.

If you’re against The Digital Economy Bill, sign the petition.

Photo credit: Soccerex.

So we have another Premier League footballer in trouble with the law. Chelsea defender Ashley Cole early Thursday morning decided after a night out doing charity work, that he would decide to have a little too much booze and then get into a one sided yelling match with the police. The police won when they arrested him on drunk and disorderly, letting him go after only paying an eighty pound fine.

So what does Chelsea do here? According to Chelsea’s club rules, they can fine up to two weeks wages (in Ashley Cole’s case, a nice sum of 164,000). The Times is reporting he’s been fined the max, The Sun though is saying Ashley Cole is going to be let off the hook because Hiddink doesn’t want to make an example of Cole.

The eighty pound fine from the police was probably paid in petty cash from Cole’s pocket. With the FA Cup on Saturday, Ashely wasn’t going to play. What does that mean? Well it means, depending on the source you want to believe in, Ashley Cole got away with only paying eighty quid. Maybe Fabio Capello for punishment could keep him out of the England squad for a while. Then again, that might not be punishment for someone on 82,000 a week.

The other big story involves sale talks gone bad with regards to Liverpool. It would appear that the 500 million pound price tag put on the club by Hicks and Gillett is just a little too high. High enough that the talks have come to a screeching halt.

Considering the circumstances right now, I tend to agree with the Kuwait group. The economy is atrocious, and the two co-owners don’t exactly see eye to eye. If there was any big club where you could pull off a low-ball offer, right now Liverpool is it.

So what should Liverpool go for? In this situation, I don’t see the club being sold for a penny over 350 million pounds. At that price, don’t expect the club being sold anytime soon.

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Can Everton please catch a break? The latest player out the rest of the season is Victor Anichebe. He’ll be undergoing exploratory surgery on his right knee.

Sepp Blatter has opened his mouth again. After claiming the strength of the Premier League is damaging other domestic leagues, Blatter then stated that he has Sir Alex’s support of the 6+5 rule. I wonder if Ferguson will confirm that in public, because I haven’t seen it.

Friday is judgment day for Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson. He’ll find out from an Icelandic court if he has more time to sell West Ham United. Even then, June would be the next deadline. The problem will be finding someone who will pay 200 million for the club. Considering the situation Gudmundsson is in, he’ll be lucky to get 75.

Mark Hughes is warning Man City’s players to qualify for Europe…or else. Or else what Hughes, you’re looking for a new club while City’s owners eye up Arsene Wenger? While we know Wenger isn’t going to leave Arsenal for Manchester City, it did make Cesc Fabregas over react by saying he’d quit Arsenal if Wenger left.

Well the Stuart Attwell fallout has begun. This weekend he’ll be the fourth official between Bury and Rochdale in League Two. He’s also facing the ire of columnist. Nick Szczepanik feels that Attwell’s rapid rise has set him up for a big fall. Paul Wilson asks if Attwell is the worst referee in Premier League history?

And finally, Richard Scudamore insists that the 39th game overseas will happen. Just shut up about it please! This is one of those ideas that is fine on paper, but horrific in execution.

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore rejected the notion of a salary cap, suggested by UEFA.

“If you say 60% or 50% can be capped on wages, what it really does is absolutely lock in the natural order,” he told BBC Radio Five’s Sportsweek programme yesterday. “It would help the big clubs far more than the small clubs. If you have a small club who have got a benefactor, or who have got other ways of raising money or ways of funding, at least it gives them a chance to compete.”

Incredibly, the Premier League has a valid criticism.  Such a cap, tied to club revenue, would keep clubs within their means, rather than deficit spending themselves into massive debt.  But, it’s also implicitly unfair, as 60 percent of Man United’s turnover is far greater than 60 percent of Hull City.  It would calcify the existing order.

One alternative is a firm, legitimate salary cap for all clubs.  It would create parity, as it did in the NFL.  But, for such a system to be implemented, it would have to come at the expense of relegation.  Man United is not going to agree to a system that would see them at risk of relegation and financial ruin.

The NFL regulation may be too radical, but the Premier League should consider tow facets of the current system in place in Major League Baseball.

The first is the luxury tax.  There is no salary cap in American baseball, but there is a luxury tax – a set amount for payroll.  If a team spends above the luxury tax amount, they pay into a common fund, distributed to less fortunate clubs.

So, for instance, the Premier League could set the luxury tax threshold for payroll at £100m per year.  Chelsea’s payroll is £148.5m.  The difference is £48.5m.  Chelsea could pay a tax on the difference of 50 percent, so £24.25m.  That money would then be redistributed to the bottom clubs.  The tax could also increase for repeat offenders who repeatedly overspend.

The luxury tax would curb spending, but in a way palatable for clubs.  It would not stunt a big club’s ambition or enforce socialistic parity.  It would merely increase the cost of anticompetitive extravagance, to the benefit of other clubs.  Manchester United can still flex its financial muscle, but other clubs have a better chance to compete.

Another baseball innovation that the Premier League should consider is the apprenticeship period.

Baseball players are not natural free agents at the beginning of their careers.  Major League clubs hold their restricted rights for their first six seasons of Major League service.  The club dictates the player’s salary within league standards, for the first three years of the contract.

During the second three years, the player and club go to an arbitrator to agree on a salary.  A player may also sign an extended contract, often at below market value, forgoing another year of free agency in exchange for more money.

This could be key to breaking the Premier League oligarchy.

With young talent so cheap, teams would feel less pressure to sell young players.  Everton could keep Wayne Rooney for a few years, rather than selling him to Manchester United.

A low budget club with a smartly developed brood of youngsters and well-bought veterans could compete for the Premier League title.

It’s not a radical adjustment of power.  Generally, teams that spend well will still do well.  The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees are still favorites to win the American League every season.

However, occasionally, there is a season such as 2008.  The Tampa Bay Rays went to the World Series with the second lowest payroll in MLB.  The three highest paying teams – the New York Yankees, the New York Mets and the Detroit Tigers – all missed the playoffs.

Similarly, Manchester United and Liverpool would challenge for the title every year.  But, every so often, a club such as Middlesbrough would rise to knock them from the pedestal.

The Premier League doesn’t need a massive NFL-style overhaul.  A softer touch in the manner of MLB may be just right.

You would think Rafa Benitez would have already learned his lesson. Instead Rafa is left to choke on more words, and a title dream lost.

Before Liverpool’s 1-1 draw with Manchester City, Rafa reacted to Arsene Wenger’s comments that Manchester United were untouchable. “I can only talk of my team but I don’t think they are untouchable. In football now every game is tough so anything can happen. We have reduced the gap very well and want to reduce it more. It will be difficult but if we’re in the same position going to Old Trafford maybe that could be important”, came the words of Rafa Benitez. Now the gap is seven and even winning at Old Trafford guarantees nothing for Rafa.

Why Rafa took the bait on what was such an innocent comment from Wenger defies belief. Instead of focusing on what Rafa was going to do without Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres in the lineup to get three points at home against a Manchester City side that had not done much away from Eastlands this year, or even worrying about signing a new contract, Rafa decides that his vendetta against Sir Alex Ferguson is just that more important.

With Real Madrid hitting a bit of form, Liverpool have a bigger fight on their hands in the round of sixteen of the Champions League than even I expected a month ago. Should Liverpool not advance out of the Champions League, will their season truly be over with before March tenth?

Rafa may have finally admitted that the title race has slipped away from Liverpool, but it’s too late for that. He may have seen these tricks work when he managed at Valencia, but Rafa can’t fool the man who let’s the football do the talking first…then the man.

One person I never expected to come out with an almighty rant would be Tony Mowbray. The manager who’s side has been rooted at the bottom for a good portion of this season decides that before West Brom’s visit to Fulham to take a swipe at, of all things, Match of the Day. Not the show itself, just those ‘sofa pundits’ on it.

“I’ve got the world telling me I’m doing this wrong and that wrong, and playing the wrong formation. But I will stay single-minded and focused on what I believe in.

‘If the experts sitting on the sofas were good enough, they would all be doing this job themselves. Even when you get teams winning 10 games on the bounce, there are still people telling you that you are not doing something right.”

Mowbray’s West Brom then proceeded to see Fulham tear them apart in a match where 2-0 was too kind a scoreline. When that happens, those sofa pundits look like absolute geniuses. In the Championship, you can get away with single-minded tactics and thinking. In the Premier League, single-minded tactics and thinking see you relegated and begging for your job.

While I’m on the subject Mowbray, shouldn’t you be taking a little responsibility for how pathetic your teams have played? Shouldn’t you be putting the pressure on the players in private to up their standard instead of lashing out on pundits who are paid to do so (and seemingly doing a better job at pointing fingers than you are)?

There are winnable games in West Brom’s future, and now it’s the time for Tony Mowbray to show that he can adapt and be flexible. Single-minded football has been a losing proposition for West Brom so far, and sitting at the bottom of the table is not the time to be stubborn with what brought you up in the first place.

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While not a Premier League story, credit has to go Joe Prodomo for keeping Weymouth from losing by 10 or more goals.

So Bolton Wanderers are denying rumors that Gary Megson will be sacked at the end of the season and replaced by Owen Coyle, Burnley manager. Okay I was alright up until the name Owen Coyle appeared. So Bolton want to replace a guy who currently is guiding Bolton into a mid-table finish with a guy who, while has Burnley in the playoff fight, has been proven nothing more than a cup specialist. Good going there Bolton management.

The last thing Everton needed was to see Mikel Arteta injured on Sunday.

Claudio Ranieri admitted that he fell asleep while watching Chelsea play Aston Villa ahead of Juve’s Champions League clash.

And Richard Scudamore has rejected the idea of a salary cap in the Premier League. All together now…WHAT A SHOCK!

This week, some of the top decision makers in world football met at the Leaders In Football conference at Stamford Bridge in London to discuss a host of topics. Richard Scudamore, chief executive of the Premier League, spoke about his vision for making the Premier League into a global league.

When interviewed about the topic, Scudamore remarked,  “The audience abroad are not silly. They are very sophisticated, they know a lot about our clubs and they want real and meaningful matches.” Is that true? Do you want Premier League matches played overseas? Vote now.

A brand name is perhaps a company’s biggest asset. It’s something that should be guarded. Unfortunately, the Premier League simply doesn’t get it and, as a result, is facing an identity crisis.

Currently all around the world, England’s ultimate soccer league is most commonly referred to by one of three names: the Premiership, Premier League and English Premier League. Imagine then how much confusion there’s going to be in 2010 when a new cricket league is launched in England named — yes — the English Premier League and will be using the same acronym, EPL.

The English version of the Twenty 20 cricket league is riding the coattails of the mega successful Indian Premier League which launched this past Spring.

To me, the brand names Premier League and English Premier League are synonymous especially outside the UK. If I was Premier League chairman Richard Scudamore, I’d be on the phone to my legal counsel to determine the best course of action.

Here are several interesting articles I came across during the past few days which may be of interest to many of you passionate fans:

• “Soccer’s Billion-Dollar Players” — What Credit Crunch? The biggest soccer players and clubs are drowning in money, much of it borrowed (Time Magazine)
• “Premier League Plan To Take English Football To The World” — Here at EPL Talk, we’ve been writing in support of the 39th Game concept ad nauseum, and now the idea is back with a different concept. Problem is will managers let their top teams play and risk the chance of injuries? (The Daily Telegraph)
• “Premier League Plan Five Four-Team Global Tournaments In New Winter Break” — More details about Richard Scudamore’s plan to bring the Premier League to the world (The Daily Mirror)
• “The Beautiful Gane: PFA’s Art Exhibition” — Now we know who bought the LS Lowry football masterpiece we featured a few months ago (Football Shirt Culture)
• “20,000 Leagues Under The Sea” — Well-written article about the birth and history of the Football League (Two Hundred Percent)
• “Fulham Plans Johnny Haynes Memorial Statue” — Johnny Haynes, the footballer that is synonymous with Fulham, is to be remembered with a memorial statue to stand outside Craven Cottage (Fulham FC)
• “Kenyon Urges Chasing Pack To ‘Get Their Houses In Order’” — Peter Kenyon has advice for Everton, Spurs, Villa and the other teams trying to break into the Big Four. Must be easy to give advice when you work for a club that practically has an unlimited amount of money to spend (The Guardian)
• “Most Of Premier League Web Visits Sourced Abroad” — This comes as little surprise to us readers, but it’s still fascinating to read: Most of the traffic to PremierLeague.com and the official club websites for the Big Four come from users outside the UK (euFootball Biz)