In May 1992, the breakaway league signed a broadcasting rights contract with Sky and the BBC valued at £304 million, the largest such agreement in the history of British sport.
[2] The league's executive committee was unable, however, to secure title sponsorship for the new competition after eight clubs blocked a proposed £13 million deal with brewers
Bass.
[3] Nonetheless, clubs began to utilise their dramatically increased wealth to fund a series of high-profile
transfers.
[4]
Although the idea of a super league had been mentioned by football's governing bodies and evaluated by the media since the mid 1980s, plans for a new Premier League of 22 clubs were first unveiled by the Football Association in October 1990, and included in the
Football Association's
Blueprint for the Future of Football, published in June 1991.
[5] The majority of
First Division clubs, particularly long-established top clubs including
Arsenal and
Manchester United, were in favour of a breakaway from the
Football League, although Football League president Bill Fox criticised the planned Premier League as an attempt by the Football Association to "hijack" the First Division.