One very interesting thing in the refund discussions between the PL and broadcasters is the idea refunds will be paid because games didn& #39;t take place when scheduled *and* because they are behind closed doors. In other words, fans increase the financial value of the product...
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When we say & #39;football without fans is nothing& #39; we are appealing to the many ways fans are marginalised and treated as mere customers of a product made an industry in which we have no stake or voice. We know this is wrong because football isn& #39;t an ordinary business. But...
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What this rebate shows is it isn& #39;t even accurate in the terms club owners like to frame the game. Match-going fans aren& #39;t customers, they are co-creators of the product. They significantly increase the financial value of the product.
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By their own actions, the Premier League has acknowledged that fans aren& #39;t mere customers, but commercial partners who add hundreds of millions of pounds of value annually. If it wants to run things as a business, very well. We& #39;ll start by letting fans into PL games for free.
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After that, once we& #39;ve assessed more accurately the financial value of fans, we& #39;ll move to a revenue sharing arrangement where fans are properly compensated for their extremely valuable work.
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