AFC to tap into agency market but winner faces challenge
The Asian Football Confederation said this week there were three main reasons why the value of its media and marketing rights would increase in the next cycle.
Augusta renews with BBC but takes its time with Sky talks
The BBC has held on to its Masters golf rights, confounding speculation it was going to be displaced by an aggressive Sky bid for exclusive rights. Sky must now decide whether it makes sense to continue sharing the event with the BBC and, if so, at what price.
BeIN outflanked on revamped Diamond League in core markets
BeIN Media Group has lost rights to the Diamond League in its home market of the Middle East and North Africa, and a share of the rights in the US.
Qatar hosting of 2022 World Cup throws IMG/FA deal into doubt
Talks to finalise the long-form agreement for IMG’s deal with England’s Football Association have hit an impasse over an unexpected issue: the rescheduling of the FA Cup necessitated by the 2022 Fifa World Cup being moved to the winter.
GAA enjoys uplift as it takes greater control of its content
Ireland’s Gaelic Athletic Association has enjoyed steady growth in commercial revenues over the last five years and is set to do so until mid-2022.
Serie A international rights could be sold first due to Mediaset case
Italy’s top football league, Lega Serie A, is considering selling its international rights before its domestic rights in the next cycle due to uncertainty about the future of pay-television platform Mediaset Premium.
Football League considers its options as Sky ponders renewal
To secure an increase in the value of its domestic media rights, the English Football League must make pay-television operator Sky believe it is facing real competition and enable the bigger clubs to control their own digital services in a way that neither erodes Sky’s exclusivity nor upsets the smaller clubs.
USATF overhaul continues with recent NBC and Lagardère deals
Two recent media-rights deals agreed by USA Track & Field, the governing body for US athletics, continue the upturn in commercial fortunes of an organisation which nearly went bust in the 1990s.
Fifa’s early sale of World Cup rights puts ceiling on fee growth
Fifa is projecting an additional €480m ($516m) of media-rights income from the 2026 World Cup compared to 2018, an increase of about 20 per cent. Arguably only half of this will be a consequence of expanding the tournament from 32 to 48 teams; the other half being organic growth in the value of the competition from cycle to cycle.
Lega, Infront, Mediaset and Sky exonerated over Serie A sales
The vindication last month by a Roman court of the way Lega Serie A sold its media rights for the current cycle was absolute, but not definitive.