It still baffles me that Sky are involved in the Premier League, and still allowed to take bets on it. This is a serious conflict of interest.
How can a company broadcasting 24/7 about the Premier League, with rumours about who will be the next manager to lose his job etc, and then benefit from the public betting on the same rumours they are spreading?
It also doesn’t do any harm for viewing figures, which translates in to subscription fees.
I do not think they are influencing the decision making process with regards to single instances, but I do believe they are influencing decisions, that will in turn influence where teams will finish in the Premier League. It is in their interest for televised games to not be dead rubber. Would it not boost the viewing figures for a big fish like Everton to be scrapping for survival, instead of just battling it out for 7th?
It has been mentioned a few times that the match day experience is suffering because of both the delays and silence with VAR. We are not far from the day that all premier league games will be live broadcasts - 1 Friday, 4 Saturday, 4 Sunday, 1 Monday- Who does that suit?
Who can provide real time analysis of the decision making process with regards to VAR - In the comfort of your own home? That’s what is happening here. VAR is a broadcasters dream.
Is there corruption in the Premier League? If you’d asked me that a year ago, I would have said no. I am now struggling to justify the decisions being made at almost every level of the game, to give the same answer.