'Not possible in Germany'

The CEO of the German Football League (DFL), which is responsible for running the Bundesliga, has spoken out after the English Premier League set a new record for a TV rights deal on Tuesday.

The agreement, which is due to start in 2016, is worth 5.14 billion pounds (6.9 billion euros) to England's top league. It will see the rights to broadcast Premier League matches shared between British broadcasters Sky and BT Sport.

In response to the new deal, DFL boss Christian Seifert spoke out in Germany's most popular tabloid, "Bild." He said that the deal will force German football authorities to consider whether new plans need to be introduced in order to make the German game more marketable.

"If you look at the German TV market, it will not be possible any time soon for the Bundesliga to sell its rights for that much money," he said.

"We need to have an honest discussion about it: Are we prepared to head towards unpopular options in order to make sure that we can still attract the world's best players to the Bundesliga?"

Breaking with tradition

Seifert is concerned that with the amount of money that flows to the Premier League under the new deal, English clubs will continue to retain an unfair advantage on the European football transfer market.

"This is a challenge for our league, for the DFL and for the clubs, which we have to confront," Seifert told "Bild."

The 20 English Premier League clubs each play 38 fixtures in a season, compared to only 34 by the 18 teams that comprise the Bundesliga. Midweek matches are commonplace in England to ease the backlog, and because it does not also break for winter like in Germany, it is seen as a more attractive broadcasting proposition.

There are no calls for the German league to follow suit, but one option to increase the saleable value of the Bundesliga would be to delay broadcasts of matches. This however could prove very unpopular with German football fans, who still enjoy relatively inexpensive and uncomplicated access to matchday footage.

Public discussion kicks off in England

The large amount of money on offer under the new Sky/BT Sport deal, means the English club that finishes bottom of the Premier League in the 2016-17 season will still pocket over 100 million euros. The EPL champions will earn around 50 percent more than that. Additional fees will also be paid to clubs who stage more TV matches than others.

The news has caused debate amongst fans and football pundits across the UK.

Former England international Ian Wright responded to the new deal on Twitter saying: "5 billion pounds spent on premier league rights. And I bet in a year's time we'll still be talking about the lack of funding in grass roots!"

Premier League chairman Richard Scudamore responded on Wednesday by saying that while the EPL is a "success story", it was not a charity and its first duty was to ensure it remained the most attractive league in the world.

Various club bosses have been vocal in the British press also, saying that the increased TV rights money will be used responsibly by clubs to help grow the game.