[MUSIC] The personal conduct policy in American football much discussed here Roger Goodell in the context of off-field misconduct, and the commissioner's authority to suspend indefinitely in the case of Adrian Peterson, one of the great players in the American football. Is there any equivalent in your league, where a player can engage in domestic violence and you can stop his guaranteed payments. >> Yes, there most certainly is. Within our contracts and there is a standard contract, within the Premier League and the Football League. There used to be two different contacts, but try to get the game uniformed, the football league have adopted the premiership contract. And within that, there would be the ability for a club to terminate a player's contract. If he's found guilty of any misdemeanor. >> And that's the really important point in American football. You don't have to have a finding of guilt to suspend payments necessarily. Must there be a court finding of guilt in your systems? >> Well, I think that's a very interesting point and it's sort of hand on heart. That will be the first question today that [LAUGH] I can't sort of, I can't answer but I'm certainly going to do the research on that and come back to you. Generally speaking the decision is that guilt would be decided by the club. And we would know that if a player, Chad Evans would be a classic example of that. He was found guilty of rape. He has always said that he was innocent. But a judge and jury sent him to jail for five years. And Sheffield United had the ability to terminate his contract, because of that. But if there are misdemeanors, so it's not just a question of being found guilty in law. If he's in breach of any of the club's disciplinary code, that in itself would be sufficient reason to terminate that player's contract. >> Parallel to conduct detrimental in the US. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Okay. Well, let's go back to the agent side of things. The agency world, the transfer payment world and how agents get paid. And how players participate in pushing for a transfer or a loan out. What's the best characteristic and the best agents that you've dealt with? And then the other side, what are the worst characteristics? >> Well just the very mention of agents is enough to, you can see the rye smile on my face. The very mention of agents is enough to turn me to drink. [LAUGH] You say the good agents and the bad agents. There are nice people and there are not so nice people. I take that on board. Do we need agents or don't we need agents? If we had our way at this particular football club, we probably wouldn't use agents but you disadvantage yourself because everybody else is using them. Agents do one thing, and they take money out of the game, it never comes back into the game, it's not recycled, so I think most people, if they're honest have an issue with agents. We have selected agents that we trust. And we believe that they do a good job by the player. As opposed to their default position is how much am I getting out of this? And then the player will get what's left and I'm not interested in the football club at all. So, I think there are good and there are bad and there are those probably that sit somewhere in the middle. But I think the whole world of agents needs to be examined. As you know under the new FIFA regulations they now longer have to be qualified. That's the new rule that's coming in for next season. I think that's a detrimental step. I'm not particularly happy with that, but like the rest of the football league clubs you vote by default because that decision has been made. And as long as they fill in a self certification on a, I don't want to get sort of dragged down that line now of >> [LAUGH]. >> You know, those, those of lower integrity completing a self certification. My God, that is just a disaster in the happening. >> Well let's take the, well in the NFL there is a certification process in the National Football League, there's a maximum of 3% often times negotiated down to represent a player first initial contract. Is there a fixed fee, or is it all negotiable as to what the agent gets, and what's what the player gets as you're paying a transfer fee to get a new player to come to. It's all negotiable. >> All negotiable. >> Okay and this is why we like the people that we like, because we tend to be able to negotiate to smaller amount with them. >> [LAUGH]. >> It may not be that they're the nicest people on earth, but they're doing us a favor by doing the same work for less. But I think by a large, somewhere between 3 and 5% is what you'd be expected to pay. The larger sums, with the deals and has the same agent as Adam. So we know the agent very well. And we know that there are huge sums to be had. Because of the huge transfer fees in Europe. And I suppose good luck to the guys if they're in the right place at the right time and they have a player that looks off that they believe looks after them than the player is going to go with them. But for me, it's not just about finding a football club, it's about looking after that player's lifestyle. This is what we look at when we work with agents here. Is that agent looking after the player's lifestyle, his welfare, the welfare of his family, schooling. Getting the right kind of financial advice, the right kind of education, the right kind of press coaching. These are all things that we believe are fundamental in making sure that our young footballers have very high moral standards, they are the pillar of the society. They are idolized in the society as all footballers are, probably worldwide and we have to make sure that they are setting standards way above their civilian or their normal counterpart. >> Exactly what the Personal Conduct Policy says in the National Football League, exactly that. Held to a higher standard, absolutely and teams enforce it as well. Let's drill down. I mean it's not altogether pristine. Corruption scandals abound. Players do things that they regret later. And I understand there's recently another corruption scandal. There's illegalized betting as it relates to your league as opposed to the National Football League at least for now. How do you police that and what are the consequences of a player being found guilty of being paid to throw a match. >> Well I think that, fortunately we have very few examples of a player in soccer. Cricket has been highly publicized and there are players that have been banned for certain periods, a few players banned for life. And we know that in the far east, in the middle east that they're are betting syndicates that are trying to corrupt young players all the time. And we have a a system of where we monitor the people that are around our training ground and our training area. What we don't want is anybody that is suspicious hanging around our young players associating with our young players. I sort of use your word, maybe not mine, corrupting. young players, influencing them with gifts. And for young, influential players, when you are 16, 17, and 18, it's probably no different to internet grooming. That you're at your most vulnerable when you're probably most excited about your own prospects of a future. And of course, footballers have huge egos. And when you're a budding footballer, you probably have an ego that's greater than your 16 or 17, your old school friend, because more people are already wanting to go out with you and talk to you and surround you. And if the wrong people are let in to that inner sanctum, then it's very, very easy to corrupt people, with gifts, with watches, and I think this is what started off in the cricketing world. So we police and we monitor our training regime, our academy, our youth players. And we also educate them, in the pitfalls. This is their career, and we will not tolerate it. We would terminate anybody's contract, probably without even having a discussion if we felt that they were guilty of corrupt betting, throwing matches, or even involved in any kind of betting at all. And as you're aware, within English soccer, that a law was passed last year which is now on the statute books that prohibits anybody involved with a professional football club from betting on any soccer match anywhere in the world between any teams. It is absolutely prohibited for any footballer, any management, any senior staff, or anybody that's involved in the administration of the football club from betting on any game in any country in the world. >> Our American baseball goes all the way back to the Black Sox scandal and Pete Rose being banned for life, so we're very familiar with those anti gambling rules. Let me just move to a couple of more subjects. You've been very generous with your time but what about the monitoring of social media for the next great former player? In the States that can be a problem and the team has to take, there must be consequences if a young footballer coming up, misuses his social media accounts? How do you monitor that, but still let him have his say? >> Well again it's a very interesting point, and it's I I think it's going to be an area of even greater concern in the future. If I could just sort of, just go back a step. >> Sure. >> And I think this is very important in my answer. At the football club, we have a community, a community side of our football club that we call the Balma Community Trust. And we teach over 3000 children a week in our local community. So we're not just teaching them soccer, we're teaching them lifestyles, and we talk we go out into the community. This is our community staff who are trained football coaches, trained administrators, along with our senior players. And the most senior person of all, unfortunately, at the football club by a few years, >> [LAUGH]. >> is myself, so I join people, our team out in the community, and we talk within schools. And this is generally speaking primary schools. So, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven and older we talk to them about the pitfalls of antisocial behavior, we talk to them about the pitfalls of drug abuse, alcohol abuse, prostitution, social networking. And we have some very good examples of community team going out to the schools and showing clear examples of internet grooming, and the pitfalls of just having a Facebook or a Twitter account which most people would perceive to be very innocent, how they can be exploited by older people. Now, in also giving education to the schools, the players that go out are educating themselves, and we in turn will get the same education in our youth and academies. So they are fully aware of the level, the standards that we set at the football club. I mean our head of media encouraged me to have a Twitter account. >> [LAUGH]. >> And it's, for me, I'm very, very open. I'm one of the fans. At the end of the day, unless you're a professional in any sport, you're a supporter. I just happen to be chairman of the football club, but I'm also probably its greatest supporter. So, I get involved with my Twitter account, but I very seldom reply to anything, because I know the pitfalls. And my tweets are generally words of encouragement to the team, on a Friday night or my gratitude to our supporters who have traveled, I'm going to say 300 miles long distances. >> [LAUGH]. >> That's probably your next door neighbor. >> [LAUGH]. >> In the States, but it's all relative. So we're constantly telling people what is right and what is wrong, and we will pick up examples of the, you could say the the senior professional offenders. Balotelli would be a very good example. I won't be telling him that when he comes to the ground tomorrow night. >> [LAUGH] >> Because he's, I think he's about six foot four. >> Okay. >> And he looks sinister. >> [LAUGH]. >> So I'll probably congratulate him on his tweets face to face, but he would be a good example that we would talk to our players about. Do not do this. Rio Ferdinand, as you know, has just had a, he's a prolific tweeter. Joey Barton, they've all had FA bans because they've spoken their mind too aggressively. And what they have to understand is that they should be seen as pillars of the community. They should be giving good examples to people, not bad examples. And because sometimes professional footballers have this huge ego they believe because they earn huge sums of money they can say and do whatever they want. For one reason, because they can. >> We have LeBron James here in Cleveland now, proud of it, and his managers fancy the fact that he has millions of Twitter followers, and that's important to his publicity rights, what we call his licensing rights, worldwide. So let me drill down on that a little bit. The monetization of the publicity rights for one of your players, what if it collides with one of your major sponsors or one of the league's major sponsors? We have that issue in representing professional athletes here. In the NFL, you can't wear the wrong headphones during a game because there's an official NFL sponsor of the headphone. You have to cover it over if you have a competing headphone on in the pre-game warm ups. >> Okay. Just, I've only just thought of something humorous just before I answer the question. Just to get a few more followers it, it's at Jeff Mostyn [CROSSTALK] 20 thousand viewers to be homing in on me after this presentation. That's a, it is a very interesting question. And obviously where you would have the greatest conflict would be in betting. It's a, it's a very strange situation that we have in the football league. Our main sponsors are Sky Bet and yet you're prohibited from betting if you're involved in football. I've never really seen the logic other than they're paying the most money, so it seems to be good enough for everybody. And obviously it doesn't prohibit our supporters. But again, what we insist upon with our players is that anything that is tweeted is not a conflict of interest with anybody that is a sponsor of the FA, the Football League, or the Premier League, or anybody that is a conflict with any of our chosen partners at the football club. And that's something that we educate the players with. >> Well, and let me finish up here. We promised about an hour and we're up against 50 minutes, so appreciate your patience, but, >> It's a pleasure. >> the media rights, now you're the owner again, rather than talking on the player-agent's side. The media rights is what is driving so much of our 3 major leagues, these huge multi-billion dollar, multi-year media rights deals, all forms of media, now known or hear after devised. And that has resulted in the guarantees going up and up in each of our three major leagues. How does that work in the English FA system and in your league in particular, the media rights as I've just described them? >> Okay, well, we. Ours are pretty similar. Our media rights are driven 100% via the Premier League. The Premier League is just a money making machine. >> [LAUGH]. >> It is without any question, the most profitable soccer league in the world. It is the most watched it's the most desired, whether it is from one end of the states from east to west. In America throughout Europe and it is their incredible ability to drive revenues up. That everybody else, including the Football League follow in their slipstream. And the Football League tend to get, I'm sad to say, what the, what the Premier League leave. So we're picking up the smallest, the smaller share. And still have to try and find our own headline sponsors. But as far as the media are concerned, the huge media deal that is struck by the Premier League, which has now become very competitive, because Sky Television dominated the contracts, the BBC, which is effectively a nonprofit making organization. Could not compete like for like. Independent television companies where they have a commercial revenue would certainly be able to compete in certain areas, but Sky are massively professional in everything they do. Their camerawork, the level of professionalism, takes viewing sports to an absolutely new level and you can watch a game at home and practically feel as if you're in the stadium watching the game yourself. They have so many camera angles. That is where the money is, the Premier League want to have the top dollar for for their brand and Sky, and now BT Sports in particular are willing to pay that. We've got a new contract due for negotiations in 2016, 17. And that will result in money coming back down into the football league because we get the solidarity payments that will be worth to born the football club, we will get a I call it a handout, because as I alluded to earlier, the moment it's called a gift, from 2016, 17 it will be contractual. And we will get a proportion of the Premier League media rights index-linked. So every time they negotiate a new deal, we'll be getting the same percentage, but it will be of a huge amount. It will be worth circa 5 million to any championship club come 2016, 17. So it's a very nice gift to start the season. But it's the Premier League that drive it on. The FA, of course, have FA Cup sponsors that hopefully will be announced in the not-too-distant future. The football league are sponsored by Sky Bet and then we have our own Capital One Cup which is what we're playing, we're playing Liverpool in the Capital One Cup tomorrow. So, traditionally, it was called the League Cup, but it's sponsored by Capital One, who are a credit card, a predominantly a credit card company. >> One last question, and sometimes it intrudes on team loyalties. Fantasy sports are all the rage here in the States. In the NFL and MLB, but NFL in particular, people are watching their player rather than their team. Is that a phenomenon that, that you're experiencing in, in Barmouth or throughout the Premier League and your league? >> It certainly, we got an awful lot to learn. I love the States. I worked in Florida for three years so I had a permanent suntan. >> [LAUGH]. >> And I was one of the youngest people there. Everybody told me it was God's waiting room. I think I was 50 at the time and I was the youngest person in the state, so I absolutely loved it and I just love the American way of life and and I just love the people admire success, and when it comes to marketing, there is no better exponents than you and your peers. And although we have our football league iPlayer, so now people are watching games on iPads and iPhones. This is not, don't, I think probably need to just say I'm not being paid by Apple. >> [LAUGH]. >> For that, so let's just say phones. >> Yes, yes. >> Of any kind. But more and more people are subscribing. We have our own subscription service at the football club and I think it is definitely the way forward. And that is driving income into into clubs. But we don't have the ability. Everything is centralized at the moment through the football league. So we don't have the ability to show our games live and charge charge a fee for that. The NFL is fantastic. I was over in New York and met a lot of the senior executives recently. I've been doing a lot of work behind the scenes with the MLS. Looking at various collaborations between our football club and various MLS sites and that's something that we hope will come to fruition in the new year. I spoke about that in in Barbados at Soccerex. And learning from your expertise. I went to the NFL game the Dolphins at Wembley stadium and just to look at, you have a 60 minute game that take 4 hours to complete. And the media, the Razamataz, it's just incredible. I mean, I love absolutely every minute of it, and if I could get people into our stadium and keep them here for four hours, entertained we'd have enough money to buy another couple of players. So I'm very, very envious of how you drive income. From non match day activity, we've got a lot to learn. But we're learning very, very quickly. >> Great, so I guess last question, are you, are you going to be at Liverpool, and if so, how? >> Well the how, I've got no idea. >> [LAUGH]. >> Probably the answer to the question is if we can beat Liverpool, I don't care how. >> [LAUGH]. >> Well, I think using the word how, Eddie Howe of course is our manager, so that would be a very good question. We'll beat them through Eddie. >> Through Eddie. >> And I think it'll be a very, I think it'll be a fantastic game tomorrow. It is televised live in the States, through BeIN Sport. So maybe you can sort of catch a glimpse of the Mighty Cherries taking on the the Mighty Reds of Liverpool. And we'll certainly give them a good run for their money. For us, the dream this year will be promotion to the Premier League, but if we can win tomorrow night and get a semi-final tie against Chelsea or Southampton, our near neighbors, and then a Wembley date, Alice will put you on the invite list then you >> [LAUGH]. >> can come see us live. >> Thanks so much for being with us Jeff, is there anything else you'd like to tell our audience? >> No, I'd just like to thank you for the the invitation. It's been an absolute honor and a privilege for me to be able to address you. And I wish everybody good luck with whichever team you support, and good luck in sport generally. >> Thank you. Great having you with us, Jeff. And to our audience, we couldn't ask for a better speaker all the way around the circumference of the world of soccer football and we really appreciate the education. It was a graduate level degree that we just earned, thanks to you. >> Thank you so much, and thank you. Good luck everybody. >> Thank you. [MUSIC]
