BT Sport are reportedly facing a legal row with their pundits as they are dealing with a loss of pay during the coronavirus crisis.
With the Premier League season suspended indefinitely as England heads towards the peak of the outbreak this week, there has been no live football since early last month.
While BT have tried to come up with innovative ways to fill the schedule through showing old classics and hosting debate shows with pundits featuring from home during the lockdown, it evidently isn’t the same for them in terms of earnings when appearing and analysing live games every weekend as well as midweek European competitions.
Now, according to The Sun, the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Robbie Savage and Jermaine Jenas could be heading towards a legal row as after ten days of talks to resolve the issue at hand, the two respective parties haven’t been able to reach a compromise.
That in turn has led to the claim that a number of pundits have in turn sought legal advice on how best to proceed, with many of those in question on pro-rata contracts and so they may not be paid for the rest of their deals with no live matches on.
BT Sport are reported to have told them they don’t plan to pay their pundits in full at the end of the season due to the reduced live schedule, while if the campaign does resume this summer, it could have a negative impact on the number of live shows that are broadcasted.
Time will tell how the situation is resolved as ultimately neither party will want to go down the legal route, but if negotiations don’t lead to a compromise, they may have no other choice as the pundits will want to be paid, while BT don’t want to pay for services which weren’t required and subsequently weren’t provided.