Last updated 08:58, Saturday, 15 November 2008

TELEVISION coverage of the FA Cup’s early rounds exists purely to funnel more money into the bank account of the lower divisions’ richest club. Discuss.

Bates: Cashing in

Sorry if that sounds a touch bitter.

But it’s legitimate to consider the prospect of Leeds United appearing three times in front of Setanta’s cameras in the space of three weeks, and wonder if the national media’s love affair with the fallen giants of Elland Road has lapped into a dangerous kind of obsession.

Evidence: Last Friday, Leeds’ first-round cup tie with Northampton flashed up on Setanta subscribers’ screens, at which point a fee of £75,000 plopped into the Yorkshire club’s coffers.

On Monday, the same broadcaster will trundle along to Sixfields to cover the replay, shoving another £37,000 into Ken Bates’ reluctant hands.

And should Leeds prevail then, a flick through the schedules shows that their second round tie at Histon a fortnight today will also be available to the armchair viewer. Ker-ching – another 80 grand.

Add these fees onto the regulation £20,000 prize money they will receive should they reach the second round, and then £30,000 for advancing a stage further, and Leeds will have scooped up £242,000 by the time their number is raised from the hat in the third round draw.

To be fair, the same goes for Northampton, but don’t believe for a moment that TV executives want to be following the Cobblers on a cup odyssey, with respect to Stuart Gray’s troops.

The bottom line, of course, is that Leeds attract more viewers than any other team in the cup’s first two rounds (did I mention that their recent Johnstone’s Paint Trophy second round tie at Rotherham also somehow made it onto Setanta?). That theory bounces along reasonably enough when you consider how their visit to Carlisle in September poured 12,148 people into Brunton Park when the Cumbrians haven’t managed a crowd of over 7,000 at any other home game this season.

So they’re a big draw. No arguments there. Still, fairness would have kept them off the telly this week while a more enticing replay got the nod.

For what it’s worth, Grays v Carlisle – and its narrative of non-league pests versus League One wobblers – seemed to tick all the relevant boxes.

Instead, the magic of the cup is shoehorned into Northampton v Leeds on a Monday night. And the rich prepare to get a little richer.