Clubs in Argentina’s Primera División, the top tier of football in the country, have rejected an initial media-rights offer from US media companies Fox and Turner and are set to put forward a counterproposal.
Earlier this month, it emerged that Fox and Turner had put forward a 15-year offer for the rights to club football in the country. Fox and Turner are said to have made an offer worth an initial two billion pesos per year (€122.6m/$130m) from 2017, with the possibility of reviewing the contract every five years and the implementation of annual increases of 10 to 12 per cent from 2020.
Clubs have been holding meetings at the headquarters of the Argentine Football Association – the Asociación del Fútbol Argentino – and a new commission has been formed which is dedicated to leading the negotiations. The Arg Noticias website said the commission will now seek to put forward a counterproposal and will also entertain other offers. It added that an Asian entity is interested in making an offer worth twice that of Fox and Turner’s original bid.
San Lorenzo vice-president Marcelo Tinelli, one of the members of the commission, said, according to the Telam news agency: “It was a very good meeting. It is important that the clubs first get together to talk and determine who will negotiate with Fox, Turner or others interested in the audiovisual rights to Argentine football. We have some leaders to be responsible for that… and will pass a new proposal to the companies.”
Tinelli added: “At this point it does not seem advisable to sign a contract for 15 years, because in all leagues in the world they are made for two or three.”
The clubs are also said to have not ruled out talking to the government to extend the Football for All (FPT) scheme, although this is considered a remote possibility. The government last month confirmed that FPT, which ensures free-to-air coverage of domestic football competitions, will be scrapped at the end of this year.