Deloitte review of Scottish Football-Talking shop or a sign of change coming? SHC

[superfurryhibby]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/58699735

Ron Gordon is definitely making a splash in the wee pool of our domestic game. Whilst having some reservations around the trend toward American owned SPFL clubs, it seems to me that having an outside perspective might just be the key to shaking up the status quo.

Key concerns are around the lack of TV revenue for our game and the lack of focus and coherent strategy from the SPFL in terms of increasing revenues. It seems that Ron has already met with SKy to discuss aspects of this.

"If you take four Old Firm games alone that's the equivalent of £30m of value based on the Premier League payment terms," Rangers managing director Stewart Robertson said in July. "But the SPFL as a league is only getting £25m for 48 league games? How can we say we've sold that well?"

Hibs owner Gordon - who made his money in sports rights in the United States - met Sky in London last week as part of his pitch to create a stronger brand, citing broadcasting as "one of the most important" aspects"

There seems to be a consensus amongst the owners of HIbs, Hearts ,Aberdeen and Dundee Utd that the game needs restructured and that the leading clubs should be driving that.

"The SPFL was formed in 2013 after the merger of the SPL and SFL formed one 42-team organisation. But is it under threat? Gordon, Hearts chair Ann Budge, and Cormack have all previously suggested that number of clubs - with a range of divergent needs and interests - is too many.
ordon and others have floated the idea of keeping the current pyramid, but allowing the bigger clubs to go their own way in terms of decision making, while allowing the increased revenue to trickle down in the same way it currently does.

"My sense is that somewhere in the middle maybe 24 [clubs] or something like that," he told The Athletic last month. "You could still keep the pyramid going, but the focus would be on the full-time, professional clubs that can really grow the game.

"Ultimately what happens at the top, trickles down to the smaller clubs. So you can still keep all the payments and residuals flowing down."

The concern for some fans will be the prospect of a US-style closed shop, where franchises are protected from relegation, which gives greater certainty to owners and investors. That may suit some in boardrooms, but it would be an anathema to supporters across the country"


Making the product more marketable includes encouraging fans into the ground before 2.45 and making it a more of a "sociable" experience, one that would include allowing the sale of alcohol out with the likes of Behind the Goals.


"The problem for the five clubs will be getting their way. The Deloitte review will take around six months, and at that point it becomes a political mission to convince the majority of the 42 clubs reform is in their best interests"

Any thoughts on this question? My feeling is that these guys are looking for significant change. Lots of money has been invested and I'm sure they will resist being held back by the minnows operating throughout our lower leagues. We have a lot of history and baggae in our game. Just maybe there is sea change coming and we might be on the verge of a revolution in our game?

[CMurdoch]

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/58699735

Ron Gordon is definitely making a splash in the wee pool of our domestic game. Whilst having some reservations around the trend toward American owned SPFL clubs, it seems to me that having an outside perspective might just be the key to shaking up the status quo.

Key concerns are around the lack of TV revenue for our game and the lack of focus and coherent strategy from the SPFL in terms of increasing revenues. It seems that Ron has already met with SKy to discuss aspects of this.

"If you take four Old Firm games alone that's the equivalent of £30m of value based on the Premier League payment terms," Rangers managing director Stewart Robertson said in July. "But the SPFL as a league is only getting £25m for 48 league games? How can we say we've sold that well?"

Hibs owner Gordon - who made his money in sports rights in the United States - met Sky in London last week as part of his pitch to create a stronger brand, citing broadcasting as "one of the most important" aspects"

There seems to be a consensus amongst the owners of HIbs, Hearts ,Aberdeen and Dundee Utd that the game needs restructured and that the leading clubs should be driving that.

"The SPFL was formed in 2013 after the merger of the SPL and SFL formed one 42-team organisation. But is it under threat? Gordon, Hearts chair Ann Budge, and Cormack have all previously suggested that number of clubs - with a range of divergent needs and interests - is too many.
ordon and others have floated the idea of keeping the current pyramid, but allowing the bigger clubs to go their own way in terms of decision making, while allowing the increased revenue to trickle down in the same way it currently does.

"My sense is that somewhere in the middle maybe 24 [clubs] or something like that," he told The Athletic last month. "You could still keep the pyramid going, but the focus would be on the full-time, professional clubs that can really grow the game.

"Ultimately what happens at the top, trickles down to the smaller clubs. So you can still keep all the payments and residuals flowing down."

The concern for some fans will be the prospect of a US-style closed shop, where franchises are protected from relegation, which gives greater certainty to owners and investors. That may suit some in boardrooms, but it would be an anathema to supporters across the country"


Making the product more marketable includes encouraging fans into the ground before 2.45 and making it a more of a "sociable" experience, one that would include allowing the sale of alcohol out with the likes of Behind the Goals.


"The problem for the five clubs will be getting their way. The Deloitte review will take around six months, and at that point it becomes a political mission to convince the majority of the 42 clubs reform is in their best interests"

Any thoughts on this question? My feeling is that these guys are looking for significant change. Lots of money has been invested and I'm sure they will resist being held back by the minnows operating throughout our lower leagues. We have a lot of history and baggae in our game. Just maybe there is sea change coming and we might be on the verge of a revolution in our game?

My biggest concern is that money is their God and they will be happy to sacrifice everything in the Scottish game for it.
The American owners are not here to help us out.
They arrived here because they believe there is untapped money to be made and are now making their play.
They will try to do to the part time teams what we feel the Old Firm do to us with the voting system.
My belief is there will be an offer of money to the part time teams as a bribe to back the big guys plans and if that doesn't work a breakaway of the full time clubs.
The pyramid will be dead.

The money men won't be happy until the game is soulless.
Don't believe me look at the EPL and the Champions League.
They make lots of money for the owners but it no longer has a soul and lots of fans in this country no longer watch it.
As we saw with the attempted super league breakaway the owners are just looking for the next quick buck.
England no longer has an authentic top league and the fans no longer have their clubs. The clubs are simply corporate cash cows to be exploited..........and the worst thing is the supporters can never get the clubs back. Manchester United no longer exist other than as a team label that play at the same ground. Might as well be called MacDonalds United or KFC United.

Obviously there isn't the money to be made in Scottish football that there was in England but we need to be aware and switched on as supporters to the big picture when this thing kicks into gear.

[ABZHFC]

I despise American involvement in our game and would happily bring in a rule that ensured there was no overseas ownership of Scottish clubs, or at the very least a 50+1 rule so the fans would have always the final say on crucial issues

[WhileTheChief..]

Thank Christ for the likes of Ron Gordon and Dave Cormack.

We've spent decades moaning about the blazers running our game, well, now we've got some folk in to shake things up and get things moving.

Don't give a damn about 20 odd tiny 'community clubs', they should have hee-haw say in what Hibs do. Let them form their own community league and see how they get on with crowds of under 300 every week.

RG wants the top flight to be about elite football in Scotland. I back him 100% of the way.

We'll come up with a proposal following the review. If it's not voted through there will be another breakaway.

Either way, for once, we will get what we want.

[Kato]

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Thank Christ for the likes of Ron Gordon and Dave Cormack.

We've spent decades moaning about the blazers running our game, well, now we've got some folk in to shake things up and get things moving.

Don't give a damn about 20 odd tiny 'community clubs', they should have hee-haw say in what Hibs do. Let them form their own community league and see how they get on with crowds of under 300 every week.

RG wants the top flight to be about elite football in Scotland. I back him 100% of the way.

We'll come up with a proposal following the review. If it's not voted through there will be another breakaway.

Either way, for once, we will get what we want.

True. Games stagnating and only going to get worse. Nothing against the "community" clubs, they will find a level without dragging everyone else down.

All for it.

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[CMurdoch]

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Thank Christ for the likes of Ron Gordon and Dave Cormack.

We've spent decades moaning about the blazers running our game, well, now we've got some folk in to shake things up and get things moving.

Don't give a damn about 20 odd tiny 'community clubs', they should have hee-haw say in what Hibs do. Let them form their own community league and see how they get on with crowds of under 300 every week.

RG wants the top flight to be about elite football in Scotland. I back him 100% of the way.

We'll come up with a proposal following the review. If it's not voted through there will be another breakaway.

Either way, for once, we will get what we want.

You speak about the smaller clubs the way Old Firm fans speak about wee teams like Hibs

[et_hibby]

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My biggest concern is that money is their God and they will be happy to sacrifice everything in the Scottish game for it.
The American owners are not here to help us out.
They arrived here because they believe there is untapped money to be made and are now making their play.
They will try to do to the part time teams what we feel the Old Firm do to us with the voting system.
My belief is there will be an offer of money to the part time teams as a bribe to back the big guys plans and if that doesn't work a breakaway of the full time clubs.
The pyramid will be dead.

The money men won't be happy until the game is soulless.
Don't believe me look at the EPL and the Champions League.
They make lots of money for the owners but it no longer has a soul and lots of fans in this country no longer watch it.
As we saw with the attempted super league breakaway the owners are just looking for the next quick buck.
England no longer has an authentic top league and the fans no longer have their clubs. The clubs are simply corporate cash cows to be exploited..........and the worst thing is the supporters can never get the clubs back. Manchester United no longer exist other than as a team label that play at the same ground. Might as well be called MacDonalds United or KFC United.

Obviously there isn't the money to be made in Scottish football that there was in England but we need to be aware and switched on as supporters to the big picture when this thing kicks into gear.

I agree with your outlook on this. I think the first thing the bigger clubs should be trying to address is the basic amount brought in via the TV deal- disproportionately low compared with other Euro leagues. RG, Cormack and co should show their acumen in addressing that before looking at 'breakaways.'

[Wilson]

I think it is just a talking shop to be honest. Any real change would be driven by the OF clubs and would therefore be in their interests not ours. It'll make interesting news for a while but that is as far as it'll go.

[CapitalGreen]

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I despise American involvement in our game and would happily bring in a rule that ensured there was no overseas ownership of Scottish clubs, or at the very least a 50+1 rule so the fans would have always the final say on crucial issues

What does an owners nationality have to do with it? You get good owners and you get bad owners, their nationality is irrelevant.

[CMurdoch]

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I agree with your outlook on this. I think the first thing the bigger clubs should be trying to address is the basic amount brought in via the TV deal- disproportionately low compared with other Euro leagues. RG, Cormack and co should show their acumen in addressing that before looking at 'breakaways.'

RG is exactly the right guy to deal with the TV deal.
He knows the market well. Will know exactly what it is worth.
The biggest thing that limits the TV contract that we can't change is our small population of 5.5 million so the number of possible subscribers is small and thus the number of people that can be reached by advertisers is small. These are the biggest factors in the worth of the deal.
Other factors/markets: How much interest is there in the SPFL in the world outside of Ireland, N.Ireland, Australia & New Zealand. Not much I would suggest. The Japanese guy at Celtic will increase interest from there so possible other teams could sign prevalent Japanese player, Chinese player etc.

[Smartie]

I guess it depends on the motivation of these American chaps.

If it's purely to make money then I guess we should be afraid.

Most often it's to have a pet project or to buy love. Under those circumstances they might be just the shot in the arm we need.

If was purely about milking money then there would already be student flats on Easter Road though, so he should get the benefit of the doubt for now.

[bod]

[I]"If you take four Old Firm games alone that's the equivalent of £30m of value based on the Premier League payment terms," Rangers managing director Stewart Robertson said in July. "But the SPFL as a league is only getting £25m for 48 league games? How can we say we've sold that well?"



This to me says any league will still have teams playing each other 3 or 4 times per season

[ABZHFC]

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What does an owners nationality have to do with it? You get good owners and you get bad owners, their nationality is irrelevant.

American owners come from a country where sport is viewed in totally different ways to how it is viewed here. I am not saying any owner is 'bad' because of their nationality, but they have a different worldview on what the sport should look like, including seeing nothing wrong with uprooting a club and making it play in another city because that market is more profitable.

Our club was founded for the poor and impoverished Irish community of Edinburgh, even that would be totally alien to an owner from America. Germany has it right when it comes to ownership, the fans should have the final say, not the moneymen

[Peevemor]

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American owners come from a country where sport is viewed in totally different ways to how it is viewed here. I am not saying any owner is 'bad' because of their nationality, but they have a different worldview on what the sport should look like, including seeing nothing wrong with uprooting a club and making it play in another city because that market is more profitable.

Our club was founded for the poor and impoverished Irish community of Edinburgh, even that would be totally alien to an owner from America. Germany has it right when it comes to ownership, the fans should have the final say, not the moneymen

What about a South American owner with Scottish/British ancestry - how does that fit with your pigeon-holing and generalisations?

[Pretty Boy]

I think you have to be careful about being too dismissive of the smaller clubs in Scotland. They offer an excellent avenue into 1st team football for a lot of players and it's a system we have used fruitfully in years gone by and continue to use today. Equally you can't just dismiss over a century of history and fans affection for their clubs because it doesn't suit Hibs agenda anymore.

In saying that there has to be an acceptance that the game here can only truly be grown by a small number of clubs, arguably only a handful. The monetary value of our TV rights and in turn the commercial partners we can attract is driven by the top clubs, in reality the TV deal probably hinges on who places the most value on the fixtures between 2 clubs. I wonder if there is merit in continuing with a 12 team top league, potentially expanding it to 14 then having a 2nd league comprised of 14-16 and then below that a loosely regionalised pyramid system involving the Highland Legaue, Lowland Legaue, East of Scotland League etc etc.

The biggest thing for me is that no league should become a closed shop. The Super League and the attempts to safeguard places in the Champions League is regularly a source of ire among fans. We can't have a system in Scotland in which Hibs, Hearts, Aberdeen and so on are insulated against relegation; sporting merit has to remain a driver. I actually take the point made about the American outlook on sport in which the top teams status is ensured and a team like the Oakland Raiders were once uprooted to Los Angeles and now to Las Vegas because it was/is more commercially viable. That would be a huge no for me, albeit I don't think that has been suggested by anyone as of now. I honestly think more links ups such as the one we have with Stenhousemuir are a good idea, it creates an environment in which young players can play football in a good environment, remain linked to their parent club and it aids the lower league club in remaining viable within their community. Maybe a more formal set of arrangements to govern these link ups, allow more players to be sent from one club to a single club. I think when the NFL started the World League, later NFL Europe, NFL teams could 'allocate' players to the European teams. Some embraced it and done well out of it, others showed little interest. The choice was there for them.

[Allez Hibs]

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[url]

Any thoughts on this question? My feeling is that these guys are looking for significant change. Lots of money has been invested and I'm sure they will resist being held back by the minnows operating throughout our lower leagues. We have a lot of history and baggae in our game. Just maybe there is sea change coming and we might be on the verge of a revolution in our game?

Fingers crossed this brings wholesale and inclusive change to make top level Football in Scotland competitive again. Not just owners making more money.

I am very sceptical anything will happen, the rest of Scottish Football has already sold its soul to the Old Firm so it will take something monumental to deliver any change that benefits the whole game.

[superfurryhibby]

I'm of the view that these American owners see potential in the Scottish football market and want to drive the game onwards. If they make money from it then they'll be doing better than most over the past thirty odd years.

The TV deal is a scandal, for me it's ridiculous that we are paid way less than comparable leagues in Europe. It's good to hear that Ron is exerting some pressure on SKy. I still can't understand how our league can be valued so low? We should be matching revenues from the likes of the Scandinavian leagues surely (some of them earn twice as much from broadcasting as our deal).

Equally the alcohol issue and current "matchday experience" are like relics from a bygone age. Getting fans into the ground earlier and spending more makes sense to me. The reliance on the standard Pie and Bovril fayre needs consigned to the bin. Pop up stalls, more local suppliers, more diversity of scran will help.

Pyramids are fine and should remain part of the set up. However, there is a world of a difference between teams like Hibs and Heart and teams operating in lower tiers. Are their interests really aligned to ours? Tradition is all very well, but it doesn't pay our bills.

[Allez Hibs]

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[I]"If you take four Old Firm games alone that's the equivalent of £30m of value based on the Premier League payment terms," Rangers managing director Stewart Robertson said in July. "But the SPFL as a league is only getting £25m for 48 league games? How can we say we've sold that well?"



This to me says any league will still have teams playing each other 3 or 4 times per season

I certainly hope not. That is not change. That is just self interest and corporate greed.

[Allez Hibs]

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Getting fans into the ground earlier and spending more makes sense to me. The reliance on the standard Pie and Bovril fayre needs consigned to the bin. Pop up stalls, more local suppliers, more diversity of scran will help.

Couldn't agree more, Hibs have so much potential to make a matchday a spectical and an event with like you say, pop up stalls. We are fortunate we are an Edinburgh club and there could really be some great pop up food stalls and pop up bars or beer gardens / fan zones around the stadium. Scotland really is stuck in the past with some things. So much space behind the East and West stands for it to work.

I'm afraid making a matchday a fan friendly event would become a political issue with licensing and planning with the current council and government so I don't have much hope they would make the right decisions to make things better.

[Pretty Boy]

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Couldn't agree more, Hibs have so much potential to make a matchday a spectical and an event with like you say, pop up stalls. We are fortunate we are an Edinburgh club and there could really be some great pop up food stalls and pop up bars or beer gardens / fan zones around the stadium. Scotland really is stuck in the past with some things. So much space behind the East and West stands for it to work.

I'm afraid making a matchday a fan friendly event would become a political issue with licensing and planning with the current council and government so I don't have much hope they would make the right decisions to make things better.

I think that's a huge part of the US sporting experience.

The ability to create a family friendly party atmosphere around the stadium should be a no brainer. Our archaic licensing laws makes that difficult though.

For me it's about choice. Guys who want a few beers with their mates can still got to the Iona or Tamsons and do the traditional football thing, I'd probably join them. Equally those with families could eat street food, play beat the goalie and have a beer inside or outside the stadium. I'd probably join them sometimes as well.

[et_hibby]

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RG is exactly the right guy to deal with the TV deal.
He knows the market well. Will know exactly what it is worth.
The biggest thing that limits the TV contract that we can't change is our small population of 5.5 million so the number of possible subscribers is small and thus the number of people that can be reached by advertisers is small. These are the biggest factors in the worth of the deal.
Other factors/markets: How much interest is there in the SPFL in the world outside of Ireland, N.Ireland, Australia & New Zealand. Not much I would suggest. The Japanese guy at Celtic will increase interest from there so possible other teams could sign prevalent Japanese player, Chinese player etc.

Agree, hoping RG is onto that big time. As you'll see from the chart in the article, attached (think someone posted this on .net a few months back, Daily Record link) Scotland way behind what, for example, Norway and Denmark receive. Suggestion has been for a long time that we're sold short.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/...-deal-13566262

0_Screen-Shot-2017-03-30-at-000635.jpg

[jacomo]

I think Ron’s assessment of Scottish football, its strengths and where it can improve are spot on. He’s got the experience and background to know how to make a more attractive league for TV (which, let’s face it, is the only real avenue for significantly increasing investment in the game).

I can understand people being wary about American ownership, but under Scottish ownership our game has stagnated for decades. Currently we have Sevco denying away fans tickets and destroying the title sponsorship deal.

Something has to change. I’m not sure Deloitte have the answers, but let’s see. Ron is very clear that he wants actionable recommendations.

[worcesterhibby]

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The TV deal is a scandal, for me it's ridiculous that we are paid way less than comparable leagues in Europe. It's good to hear that Ron is exerting some pressure on SKy. I still can't understand how our league can be valued so low? We should be matching revenues from the likes of the Scandinavian leagues surely (some of them earn twice as much from broadcasting as our deal).

I'm far from convinced that our deal is as terrible as everyone makes out. Perhaps the best way of looking at TV deals is to see how much money they bring in per head of population of the country. But you also have to compare like with like, so If we ignore England, Italy, Spain and Germany as they have a truly global reach rather than a mostly national reach then here are some relevant figures:

TV Money per head of population

Scotland - £5.50

Greece - £5
Portugal - £12.6
Poland - £1.24
Austria - £3
Belgium - £9
Netherlands - £4
Norway - £12
Sweden - £5

As you can see Portugal and Norway are over performing but both allow all matches to be broadcast live, which would have a serious effect on attendances and revenue generated on match day, so would it be extra money or just a different way of collecting the same money, while ruining the atmosphere and match day experience ?

Greece, Netherlands, Sweden are in the same ballpark as Scotland

Poland and Austria are under performing

We need to stop judging out TV income by England which brings in £29 per head of population and look at more comparable leagues

[Ozyhibby]

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I'm far from convinced that our deal is as terrible as everyone makes out. Perhaps the best way of looking at TV deals is to see how much money they bring in per head of population of the country. But you also have to compare like with like, so If we ignore England, Italy, Spain and Germany as they have a truly global reach rather than a mostly national reach then here are some relevant figures:

TV Money per head of population

Scotland - £5.50

Greece - £5
Portugal - £12.6
Poland - £1.24
Austria - £3
Belgium - £9
Netherlands - £4
Norway - £12
Sweden - £5

As you can see Portugal and Norway are over performing but both allow all matches to be broadcast live, which would have a serious effect on attendances and revenue generated on match day, so would it be extra money or just a different way of collecting the same money, while ruining the atmosphere and match day experience ?

Greece, Netherlands, Sweden are in the same ballpark as Scotland

Poland and Austria are under performing

We need to stop judging out TV income by England which brings in £29 per head of population and look at more comparable leagues

You also need to look at price per game. We only give the TV companies 48 games a season, so they pay us accordingly. Most of those other leagues will do about 200 games a season.


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[Ringothedog]

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I certainly hope not. That is not change. That is just self interest and corporate greed.

You de realise that that was a quote from the Rangers Managing Director and nothing to with the review currently being done?

[WhileTheChief..]

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RG is exactly the right guy to deal with the TV deal.
He knows the market well. Will know exactly what it is worth.
The biggest thing that limits the TV contract that we can't change is our small population of 5.5 million so the number of possible subscribers is small and thus the number of people that can be reached by advertisers is small. These are the biggest factors in the worth of the deal.
Other factors/markets: How much interest is there in the SPFL in the world outside of Ireland, N.Ireland, Australia & New Zealand. Not much I would suggest. The Japanese guy at Celtic will increase interest from there so possible other teams could sign prevalent Japanese player, Chinese player etc.

Is RG one of the money men who won't be happy until the soul has been ripped out the game? You know, like what you described in your opening post?

Is this him making his play now to try and make money out of Hibs?!

I think you're way off the mark here. RG is taking us to the next level and won't allow Brechin City or Cowdenbeath to hold us back.

League 2 attendances are regularly under 300. Why should we care about these clubs when they don't have any fans of their own to care?

They're community centres with football pitches and should act accordingly.

[Ozyhibby]

More power to Ron’s elbow as far as I’m concerned. I said for years I felt Hibs were just muddling along under Petrie and that we would never get close to our potential while he was there. I think RG is setting about proving me right on that. Only time will tell.
It’s clear he sees the match day experience as an area for massive improvement and we are starting to see some changes already. There will be more to come.


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[WhileTheChief..]

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More power to Ron’s elbow as far as I’m concerned. I said for years I felt Hibs were just muddling along under Petrie and that we would never get close to our potential while he was there. I think RG is setting about proving me right on that. Only time will tell.
It’s clear he sees the match day experience as an area for massive improvement and we are starting to see some changes already. There will be more to come.


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It's happening already!

[ABZHFC]

If you want a good TV deal then prepare to say goodbye to the majority of games being Saturday 3pms btw. Something that people always forget in these discussions about our TV deals compared to the rest of Europe is that only 1 of our games is shown per weekend. In most leagues our size, games are staggered and spread across the whole weekend. This means they get a bigger TV deal, as there are more games shown, but if we wanted a bigger one as well then I guarantee they’d try to negotiate by putting getting rid of the Saturday 3pm blackout that we currently have on the table

Be careful what you wish for

[Broken Gnome]

I'm fairly comfortable about this for now, I'm not sure the Scottish game is really ripe for sanitisation and losing its soul to money.

The closed shop idea doesn't work - the idea of Hibs, Hearts and Aberdeen being protected from relegation would be laughed out of town. If we're promoting the game for its madcap drama, a straw poll would probably cite Hibs, Hearts and Rangers in the lower leagues as the most entertainment there's been.

Everyone else is probably equally likely to be in trouble at one time or another and aside from maybe the Dundee clubs they lack any sort of tangible financial clout to be worth safeguarding. The only way semi-realistic way to do it would be a rebranded top two leagues to form some sort of elite, then have a regional system below. Would the anger from lower league clubs, fans and Twitter purists be enough of a reputational error? Doubt it.

If Ron Gordon is intent on being a money making machine, I can't see the perceived negative for Hibs at this stage? He can't hike ticket prices further as people would be driven away; if he invests loads to buy success then no one would give a monkeys if it meant a decent challenge to Rangers and Celtic - it's not got the scale to go down the route of the EPL tourist clubs either; if the ground becomes 'too' family friendly, then we've still got near-10k empty seats to work with - everyone can be accommodated without being shoehorned into an experience they don't like.

If Ron's intent on making Hibs better, and meetings with Sky would be great cause for optimism here for his credibility and standing, then it's largely worth being along for the ride. The ticket prices are his only real red line as I see it - for all he's promoting football here, he also has to realise it's limitations and the fact people moan about it constantly. It might have a hidden media value, but the consumer buy-in is limited and he could give himself too much to do if pricing fans out.