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Bayern chief: Premier League TV deal threatens Europe's other leagues

Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has said the new Premier League TV deal "poses a great threat to all other European leagues."

With broadcasters Sky and BT Sport having bought the Premier League TV rights from the 2016-17 season on for a record £5.136 billion, the team that finishes bottom from then on will receive £99 million, with the champions earning more than £150m.

In contrast, the German Football League [DFL] currently distributes a total of €850m -- around £600m -- to its 36 member clubs in the upper two German tiers, with €696m of that from the domestic TV contract.

A new contract will kick in at the start of the 2017-2018 season, and German clubs are hoping for a significant rise in domestic TV revenue to help them ward off interest in players from Premier League clubs.

In an interview with kicker, Rummenigge said: "I recently talked to Florentino Perez, the Real [Madrid] president, and to [AC] Milan CEO Adriano Galliani. We agreed that England poses a great threat to all other European Leagues."

He warned that players were demanding more and more money and there would come a time "when it will get difficult for Bayern to withstand the money pressure from England."

In the past, Bundesliga champions Bayern have said they could market their matches individually -- a move that could net them around £140m a year.

But Rummenigge said: "I am a child of the Bundesliga. I've been a player in the league and perceive Bayern as the most important member of that Bundesliga and thus also leading the charge for it.

"But all this is within its limits. And we are sending a reminder about those limits right now.

"We are willing to further take part in the central marketing within those limits as long as the international competitiveness of Bayern Munich is not put at risk."

Rummenigge warned that international competitiveness would be jepoardised "when we have to admit during contract talks" that offers from English clubs could not be matched."

"Then we'll lose sporting quality, and some in Bundesliga might actually like it," he added.

"Some of my colleagues have suggested that you can sell players for a high price and buy cheap. But that's a naive fallacy, and it won't work out."