The English Premier League (EPL) on Tuesday hired broadcasting executive Susanna Dinnage as CEO, making her the most powerful female executive in global sports.
Dinnage is to leave her role as global president of Discovery’s Animal Planet channel early next year to succeed Richard Scudamore running the world’s richest soccer competition.
The new structure is to see the league have a separate CEO and non-executive chairman, but the latter position has yet to be filled.
The appointment highlights the league’s focus on broadcasting, as most of its revenue comes from selling television rights.
“We had a very strong field, but Susanna was the outstanding choice given her track record in managing complex businesses through transformation and digital disruption,” Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck said. “She is a leading figure in the broadcasting industry, a proven business executive and a great developer of people.”
While running Discovery’s British operation last year, Dinnage threatened to remove their portfolio of channels from Sky, the EPL’s biggest TV partner, in a row over costs.
“Pay television needs to be about more than just films and football,” Dinnage said. “The consumer can’t be expected to fund all of Sky’s investments and get less and less choice in return.”
Dinnage has to maintain unity between the smaller teams and powerful wealthy clubs, who have been pushing for a greater slice of foreign television revenue.
She will also have to navigate the league through uncertainty as Britain prepares to leave the EU in March, with there being big question marks about English clubs’ access to players from the continent if free movement of labor ends.
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