8 August 2003 - The Lesson Is "Don't Mess With Murdoch"

On 8 August 2003, Rupert Murdoch's British Sky Broadcasting ("BSkyB") paid a then-record £1.02 billion to secure the live broadcast rights for the English Premier League.

BSkyB acquired its first monopoly over live Premier League coverage when the league was formed in 1992. Mudoch's company outbid all other interested parties that year and did so again when the rights came up for renewal in 1996.

For the 2003 auction, the European Commission had expressed antitrust concerns about BSkyB's monopoly and demanded that the broadcast rights for the league be divided up into four separate packages, with the expectation that competing broadcasters would acquire different packages. BSkyB had other intentions, however, and snapped up all four packages in the record £1.02 billion purchase.

Irish broadcaster Setanta eventually broke BSkyB's monopoly in 2007 when it paid £392 million to acquire two of the six packages up for auction. BSkyB acquired the other four for £1.3 billion. In the summer of 2009, however, Setanta was unable to make an installment payment and lost its British broadcasting rights, which were then acquired by US-based broadcaster ESPN.

17 July 1991 - From The Seeds Of Dissention, A Great League Is Born

On 17 July 1991, the 22 clubs in England's First Division executed the Founder Members Agreement, in which they each agreed to set up a new league that would be separate and apart from the existing Football League. The new league, called the Premier League, replaced the First Division as the top tier of English football.

The move was driven by five clubs in particular—Arsenal, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur—amid concerns about the organization of the 90-member Football League. In particular, the breakaway clubs were unhappy with the fact that each of the 90 clubs in the First through Fourth Divisions of the League had an equal voice in League decisions. They also believed that the League was not taking full advantage of the revenue available from television contracts. Indeed, one of the "basic principles" set forth in the Founder Member Agreement concerned the division of television revenue, with 50% divided equally among the member clubs, 25% shared among the on the basis of league position at the end of the season, and the remaining 25% to be divided equally between the home and visiting teams of each televised match.

The agreement also provided that the system of relegation and promotion would continue as if the new Premier League were the top tier of the Football League, with Premier League teams also eligible to participate in the League Cup and FA Cup competitions. The split has led to some confusion in naming, however, as the former Second through Fourth Divisions are now known as the Championship, League One, and League Two, respectively.

While the founders' original intent was to operate the new Premier League under the authority of the English Football Association, they soon decided to break from the FA as well and, on 22 May 1992, formed a new company as the Football Association Premier League Limited.

The new Premier League began play with the start of the 1992-93 season with 22 members: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea, Coventry City, Crystal Palace, Everton, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Norwich City, Nottingham Forest, Oldham Athletic, Queens Park Rangers, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, and Wimbledon.

Manchester United claimed the first Premier League title. Since then, only four clubs have won it: Manchester United (11 titles total), Arsenal (3), Chelsea (2), and Blackburn Rovers (1).

23 March 1895 - Other Than That, Lincoln City, How Was The Match?

On 23 March 1895, Manchester City FC set its record League victory, beating Lincoln City FC by a score of 11-3 (also a record loss for Lincoln City).

Manchester City was founded in 1880 as St. Marks (West Gorton), but moved to Hyde Road, Ardwick in 1887 and accordingly changed its name to Ardwick A.F.C. Ardwick joined the Football League as a founding Second Division member in 1892, along with 11 other teams, including Lincoln City. During the 1893-94 season, Ardwick underwent a reorganization and reformed as Manchester City FC.

Despite its stunning victory over Lincoln City in the 1894-95 season, Manchester City finished that year in 9th position out of 16 Second Division teams, with a record of 14 wins, 3 draws, and 13 losses. Four years later, however, Manchester City won the Second Division, earning promotion to the First Division. In fact, Manchester City holds the record for most second-tier titles with 7.

Throughout its history, Manchester City has moved between the top two levels of English football, except for the 1988-99 season, where it played in the third level (known as Division Two after the establishment of the Premier League). Manchester City currently plays in the Premier League, where it has been since the 2002-03 season.