Richard Masters is the current Chief Executive of the
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
, the
highest tier of association football in England.
Biography
In his personal life, Richard Masters has two young sons.
Masters' education consisted of attending the
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
Solihull School
Solihull School is a coeducational Independent school (UK), independent day school in Solihull, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Founded in 1560, it is the oldest school in the town and is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmi ...
, which led to him identifying as an
Aston Villa
Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...
supporter. He later studied for a
BSc
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...
Economics and Geography at
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
.
Earlier in his career, he was the Marketing Manager for
England and Wales Cricket Board
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is the Sports governing body, national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test and ...
from 1994 to 2000, before serving as Commercial Director for the
English Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engl ...
from 2001 to 2006. He moved to the Premier League in 2006 where he became the Director of Sales and Marketing, holding the position from January 2006 until November 2018.
[
]
Premier League
Richard Masters was appointed as the Chief Executive of the Premier League in November 2019,[ following a year-long interim period in the position after the previous incumbent Richard Scudamore's resignation in December 2018. Masters' role of Chief Executive was created after Richard Scudamore's Executive Chairman role was split into the two roles of Chief Executive and Chairman following Scudamore's resignation.][ Masters retains authority as holding the highest position at the Premier League, with his other responsibilities including leading negotiations on new media rights contracts, resolving club disputes and ownership issues, and overseeing operations.][
Masters was the Premier League's fourth choice for the role, following a protracted recruitment process that involved ]Susanna Dinnage
Susanna Dinnage (born 1966/67) is a British businesswoman, who was formerly the current global president of the Animal Planet television network. In November 2018, she became the chief executive-designate of the English Premier League, and was sch ...
, Tim Davie
Timothy Douglas Davie (born 25 April 1967 in Croydon, London) is the current and seventeenth Director-General of the BBC. He succeeded Tony Hall in the role on 1 September 2020. Davie was formerly the chief executive officer of BBC Studios. ...
and David Pemsel all being offered, but later declining the position.[
]
Newcastle United Takeover
On 9 September 2020, Richard Masters was accused by Newcastle United of not "acting appropriately" in relation to the Premier League's blocking of the attempted takeover of the club by a consortium consisting of PCP Capital Partners
Amanda Louise Staveley (born 11 April 1973) is a British business executive. She is notable chiefly for her connections with Middle Eastern investors. She helped a Saudi consortium take over Newcastle United in a deal completed in October 2021 a ...
, Reuben Brothers
David Reuben (born 1941) and Simon Reuben (born 1944) are Indian-born British businessmen. In May 2020, they were named as the second richest family in the UK by the '' Sunday Times Rich List'' with a net worth of £16 billion.
Early life and b ...
and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia
The Public Investment Fund (PIF; ar, links=no, صندوق الإستثمارات العامة) is the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. It is among the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world with total estimated assets of $620 billion ...
. This was following accusations from the consortium that the Premier League had deliberately misapplied their Owners' and Directors' test in order to frustrate the deal, due to improper influence from various third parties to block it. On the 29th September 2021, a Competition Appeal Tribunal heard that Masters and the Premier League "Abused its position" after it was "improperly influenced" by outside agencies such as the Qatari owned media outlet, BeIN Sports.
Coronavirus crisis
On 9 September 2020, Masters told the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
that it was "absolutely critical" for fans to be allowed back into stadiums to watch Premier League matches as soon as possible, as Premier League clubs stood to suffer £700m in lost revenue if the
(running from 12 September 2020 to 23 May 2021) was played behind closed doors. However, on 22 September 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that spectators would continue to be banned from attending all sporting events in England until the end of March 2021, at the earliest.