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Newcastle United: Liam Kennedy makes exciting takeover claim
Liam Kennedy has made a very exciting claim on the proposed £300m takeover of Newcastle United by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) consortium.
The Shields Gazette journalist tweeted that Qatari broadcaster beIN Sports were paying the same amount (£500m) as they were in their previous Middle East/North Africa (MENA) TV deal with the Premier League to extend it until 2025, despite them reportedly making noises that they would offer less than that amount because of the lack of legal access for KSA market to watch games from the English top flight.
Are the Premier League to blame for the Newcastle takeover collapse?
Yes
No
beIN is currently banned in the Gulf country given the disputes between them and Qatar, but Kennedy has claimed that if the Saudis were to allow beIN to be broadcast legally in the Kingdom, the it ‘would surely be a positive step’ in terms of possibly getting the prospective deal between Mike Ashley and the KSA group back on track, given its country’s issues with England’s highest division and piracy.
Allowing beIN to be broadcast legally would surely be a positive step in the bigger picture re the PL issues with KSA, you'd imagine, *if* that was the only red flag(s) re NUFC deal.
— Liam Kennedy (@LiamJKennedy23) December 17, 2020
Is the Newcastle takeover still possible?
If the KSA allow the legal broadcast of beIN in their country as Kennedy suggests, then it could well turn out to be a big step in terms of getting the takeover back on track, given that it would surely soften the relationships between the Kingdom, Qatar and the EPL.
However, this is by no means a guarantee, and so more work will likely have to be done in the background in order to push through the deal.
In other news, find out what worrying takeover claim has been made here!
