MUMBAI: IMG has won out over incumbent MP and Silva in securing the international broadcasting rights to Italy’s Serie A at nearly double the value of the previous deal.
The new rights agreement, which covers the next three Serie A seasons through 2020-21, at 371 million euros ($438 million) is twice the value of the previous deal, which was worth 186 million euros ($219 million).
IMG beat London-based favourites MP&S, who bid higher, after the US sports and entertainment conglomerate impressed with a superior project to promote Serie A overseas, AFP quotes Italian media as reporting. Eighteen of the 20 top-flight Italian clubs voted in favour of the IMG offer.
“The awareness of the Italian league’s potential is growing,” AP quotes Luigi De Siervo, the CEO of Serie A advisor Infront, as stating. “The clubs have chosen a partner that convinced everyone, not just for the economic terms but above all for the development plan.”
IMG will pay 352 million euros ($415 million) for global rights and a betting package, Rai International will provide 4 million euros (nearly $5 million) for Italian language rights abroad, and the remaining funds will be covered by signal providers and league promotions, AP reports.
The new figure places Serie A third in Europe for international rights after the English Premier League (1.3 billion euros; $1.5 billion) and the Spanish league (636 million euros; $750 million), and ahead of the German Bundesliga (240 million euros; $282 million).
“It’s very satisfying because it ranks Serie A third in terms of financial value behind the Premier League and La Liga and way in front of the Bundesliga,” AFP quotes Luigi Di Servio, managing director of sports marketing company Infront, which advised Serie A on the broadcasting rights dossier, as having said.
Italian football federation president Carlo Tavecchio added: “We’ve established the value of Italian football, by doubling revenues earned by Lega Serie A on the previous sale.”
For the domestic market, broadcasting rights for the 2015 to 2018 period in Italy reached 945 million euros ($1.1 billion), carved out between Sky and Mediaset.
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