Portuguese Liga club Benfica this week rejected a renewal offer worth €111 million ($149 million) over five seasons, or €22.2 million per season, for its media rights from the Sportinveste-controlled Olivedesportos agency.
The offer would have given Benfica the biggest media rights contract of all 16 league teams. Benfica currently has the smallest media rights fee of the top three Portuguese clubs (Benfica, Porto, Sporting) despite being the country’s most popular team.
Benfica’s current rights deal expires at the end of the 2012-13 season and it is believed to be holding out for a fee of about €30 million per season in the new contract.
Porto has the largest media rights fee followed by Sporting. Porto renewed its deal with Sportinveste’s advertising and television-rights subsidiary, Publicidade de Portugal e Televisão in April 2011 until the end of the 2017-18 season while Sporting extended in July 2010 with PPTV, also until the end of 2017-18.
Sportinveste is owned by businessman Joaquim Oliveira. Oliveira also co-owns Portuguese pay-television broadcaster Sport TV through his investment vehicle Controlinveste.