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Richard Scudamore

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Richard Scudamore
Born
Richard Craig Scudamore

(1959-08-11) 11 August 1959 (age 65)
Bristol, England
NationalityBritish
OccupationPremier League Chief Executive Officer

Richard Craig Scudamore (born 11 August 1959) is the Chief Executive of the highest tier of association football in England, the Premier League, a position he has held since November 1999.

Biography

Scudamore attended Kingsfield School in Kingswood, Bristol, where he was Head Boy in his final year and which he left in 1977. He studied law at the University of Nottingham but never went on to qualify or practice law. He then spent nine years at Yellow Pages, a division of British Telecom, progressing through sales and marketing, business planning and regional management to the position of Sales Director.[1]

Newspaper career

Scudamore worked for 10 years in the newspaper industry, mainly for Thomson. He joined them as Group Advertising Director but went on to spend his last three years with the Thomson Corporation in the US as Senior Vice President responsible for all their newspaper operations in the southern and eastern United States.

Premier League

Scudamore was appointed CEO of the Premier League in November 1999, reputed to earn in excess of £800,000pa.[2] Scudamore is responsible for negotiating broadcasting and sponsorship contracts worth in excess of £3.5 billion. He is also a founding board member of the Football Foundation, overseeing £200m+ of Premier League contributions to the grass-roots football charity. These roles followed a two-year period as Chief Executive of the Football League - responsible for the other 72 professional clubs outside the Premier League. The total value of British Premier League television rights negotiated under Scudamore have risen from £1.2 billion for the 2001-04 season to £3.018 billion for the 2013-16 season.[3] This has seen an average cost paid by broadcasters per game rise from £2.79 million to £6.53 million.[3]

In 2008 Scudamore, along with the 20 Premier League club chairmen, opted to explore the opportunity of Premier League clubs playing one additional league match per season overseas. However, following a significant amount of criticism from fans, the media and other football administrators including Sepp Blatter, the Premier League dropped the idea and have said several times since that there are no plans to reconsider it.[4]

Scudamore has also overseen the international commercial expansion of the Premier League, describing the "exponential growth" of the league's audience and revenue in India, and has stated that football is India's fastest growing sport.[5] In the Middle East and North Africa region Scudamore said the Premier League's games would be distributed in a "comprehensive and innovative manner" by agency MP & Silva.[6] Scudamore said of foreign expansion that "...as long as the football remains compelling then I don't see any reason why the world won't want to continue to watch us." Scudamore has also described the Premier League as an "iconic British business" and described it as "a big and important economic entity" for the UK.[7]

On the financial viability of Premier League clubs, Scudamore has said that the "majority of clubs are within sensible percentages" regarding their ratios of income spent on wages and said it is a "stable situation".[7] Scudamore has said that he wishes clubs to live "within their means" and was in favour of improving the financial regulation of clubs in light of UEFA's Financial Fair Play Regulations, claiming in November 2012 that "If clubs are going to make a loss then we need to check if that is sustainable and if their owners have a long-term vision. Our biggest responsibility is to make sure that clubs are run sustainably for the long term."[7] The Premier League subsequently introduced enhanced financial regulations in February 2013, Scudamore said of the new rules impact on clubs that they would "...further benefit the sustainable running of their businesses, while allowing secure owner investment, as well as enhance the reputation of the Premier League as an organisation that takes its responsibilities in the governance arena seriously."[8]

Personal life

Scudamore is married to Catherine and has five children: Jamie, Chloe, Patrick, Ned and Lara.[9]

A qualified level 5 referee, Scudamore is a lifetime Bristol City F.C. fan.[10][11]

In May 2014 emails written by Scudamore were leaked by a former temporary PA to the Daily Mirror.[12] The former PA said that Scudamore had “no respect for women,” and said that she found the emails "...highly offensive...I have worked for very professional organisations and never seen anything like it. That’s why it shocked me.”[12] Scudamore later apologised and said that the emails were "...an error of judgment that I will not make again".[13] Scudamore also said they were "private emails exchanged between colleagues and friends of many years".[13]

In the emails Scudamore wrote that “You will learn over time that female irrationality increases exponentially depending on how many members join your family. That should keep you within the Chinese government’s one child per family enforcement rules. Very clever those Chinese.”[12] Scudamore also replied to a lawyer friend who joked about spending "...all day fending Edna off my graphite shaft", that his friend "...Must keep her off your shaft...graphite, sausage meat or flimsy sponge."[12] A source said the pair were referring to golf clubs.[12] Scudamore also forwarded an email from the football executive and businessman David Dein[14] called a "Male Fairy Tale", which read “Once upon a time a Prince asked a ­beautiful Princess, “Will you marry me?” The ­Princess said, “No!” And the Prince lived happily ever after and rode motorcycles and banged skinny big titted broads...”[12]

The emails were condemned by MPs Tracey Crouch and Gloria de Piero. Crouch, a qualified football coach and manger of a girl's football team said that "It's disappointing at a time when he’s trying to encourage more women to play football that he is using derogatory terminology like this....it’s important that somebody who is promoting the women’s game shouldn’t be using this sort of language.”[12] The emails were also criticised by Helen Grant, the Minister for Sport and the Olympics, Greg Dyke, the chairman of the Football Association, and Barclays, the Premier League title sponsor[13] The England women's national football team goalkeeper Rachel Brown-Finnis called the emails an "insult to all women".[5]

There has, however, been a backlash to the critisim he received over the emails and the issue of 'double standards'. Many have pointed to the sexist comments made by many women in the media, including Martine Croxall on BBC News 24 and Prof Dame Sally Davies on BBC radio 3, whose sexist comments towards men were never questioned while Richard Scudamore was asked to resign for his 'private' emails.

References

  1. ^ "Bio - Richard Scudamore". sportindustry.biz. Retrieved 12 January 2008. [dead link]
  2. ^ "What Britain earns". The Independent. London. 5 October 2005. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  3. ^ a b "BSkyB and BT shares fall on Premier League TV deal". BBC News Online. 14 June 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
  4. ^ Kelso, Paul (15 February 2008). "Blatter: 39th game would sink World Cup bid". London: guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 15 February 2008.
  5. ^ a b "Richard Scudamore emails 'insult all women' - Rachel Brown-Finnis". BBC News Online. 16 May 2014. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
  6. ^ Bill Wilson (31 January 2013). "Premier League sells Middle East and Africa TV rights". BBC News Online. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
  7. ^ a b c Bill Wilson (15 November 2012). "Premier League boss Scudamore in football business message". BBC News Online. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
  8. ^ "Premier League clubs agree new financial rules". The Premier League. 7 February 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
  9. ^ "Speaker Bio's - Richard Scudamore" (PDF). northeasteconomicforum.co.uk. Retrieved 12 January 2008. [dead link]
  10. ^ Donald McRae (15 August 2006). "'It will not be healthy if Chelsea win 10 years in a row'". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 12 January 2008.
  11. ^ Football Focus, BBC ONE - 12 January 2008
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Matthew Drake (10 May 2014). "England football supremo Richard Scudamore made sexist slurs in a string of emails to soccer pals". London: The Daily Mirror. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
  13. ^ a b c Guardian staff (13 May 2014). "Sports minister hits out at Richard Scudamore over sexist remarks". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
  14. ^ Matthew Drake (16 May 2014). "Former Arsenal and FA chief David Dein sent Richard Scudamore sexist email". London: The Daily Mirror. Retrieved 16 May 2014.

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