Argentina’s Superliga, the top-tier of domestic football in Argentina, has kicked off an invitation to tender to sell the league’s broadcast rights internationally from the 2020-21 season onwards.
Interested parties will be asked to pay $5,000 (€4,490) to receive the scope of the ITT, including terms and conditions, with opening bids to be submitted from January 20.
Torneos, the Argentinian rights agency, is the long-standing international rights-holder of the Superliga. Its current agreement is worth around $6m per season.
The league is looking to raise $15m per season from the sale of international rights and “other types of commercial rights” according to Argentina’s Diario Popular newspaper.
This move to take the international rights to tender was reached following a series of meetings throughout 2019 and growing pressure on the board through lobbying groups.
Pay-television broadcasters Fox Sports and Turner hold the league’s domestic rights, having bought them in a five-year deal in 2017. The duo are active across Latin America and are sure to be interested in the rights across the region.
In October, it was reported in Argentina that Torneos had failed with a bid $8m per season to retain the international rights until the end of the 2025-26 season.
The league was said to be targeting over $10m per season for the international rights and held meetings last year with the management of Spain’s LaLiga and Italy’s Serie A as it seeks to broaden its rights selling horizons internationally.
The Superliga has weighed up the possibility of splitting up its international rights regionally, claims Doble Amarilla, the Argentinian sports website, striking separate deals in the likes of the Americas, Asia, China, Oceania and sub-Saharan Africa.
International betting rights to the Superliga are held by Stats Perform. In September, the sports data and technology firm announced a new five-year agreement with the Argentinian Football Association (AFA) that comprises for the global betting video rights and data rights to the Superliga, Copa de la Superliga, Copa Argentina and Recopa Argentina.
In 2016, Torneos renegotiated a rights deal with the AFA covering the country’s national team and the lower-league National B Division and First Division B competitions.
(additional reporting by Martin Ross)