Premier League games 'could be shown on YouTube' - but broadcasters want relegation

Premier League games could be shown on YouTube if and when the season restarts - but broadcasters are reportedly against the idea of relegation being scrapped.

Under 'Project Restart', the plan is for top-flight games to resume from June 12 - although Premier League bosses are waiting to discover whether Prime Minister Boris Johnson will ease coronavirus lockdown measures in the UK this week.

If the season does resume, games will be played behind closed doors and most likely at neutral venues.

Because of that, all 92 Premier League remaining matches could be televised, with some shown free-to-air on Sky and BT Sport's YouTube channels, according to The Times.

The publication reports that talks are underway between broadcasters and the league about televising games on YouTube, in addition to those that will be televised on the usual subsciption channels.

All 92 of the remaining Premier League games could be televised under plans being discussed with broadcasters (PA)

Under the plan, Amazon would also screen a number of games, while the BBC would be allowed to show more highlights programmes than they do currently.

However, broadcasters are against the idea of relegation being scrapped, The Times says.

Some have argued that there should be no relegation this season, with divisions increased in size for the next campaign and teams therefore playing more games.

But doing away with relegation would detract some of the drama from end-of-season games, and The Times reports that broadcasters would argue this is a breach of contract.

The publication quoted a source saying: "The idea is that all the games would be available somewhere to watch as they are behind closed doors and YouTube is the obvious platform to show some games for free.

"Amazon would have the ability to get some games as they are a live broadcast licence holder as well.

“Both Sky and BT will be very unhappy if it is decided to scrap relegation. There are always some great relegation battles at this point in the season which are brilliant entertainment.

“For example Norwich have matches still to play against Watford, West Ham and Brighton. If there’s no relegation then they are meaningless.”