Copa90 moves into live football rights market

Football-focused digital video platform Copa90 has said it will commence broadcasting live games after acquiring rights to an initial three matches.

James Kirkham, head of Copa90, told The Drum website that the platform has at least three live matches planned between now and the end of the year, which will be showcased on a new Copa90 Live service along with being broadcast by a major social network.

While not confirming which games it has acquired rights to, Kirkham said the first match will be shown within six weeks and will involve a “top 10” English Premier League club. However, he said this isn’t the start of a major push into live broadcasting, adding: “We’re not going in with tonnes of money competing. This isn’t us going, 'let’s get the war chest out and start outbidding people'.”

Instead, Kirkham said rights holders are approach Copa90 with offers to show games. “We’ve got a couple of big European clubs – and I’m talking elite, A-list European clubs,” he said. “The rights at the moment are coming from a whole assortment of different angles. It started off as a trickle and it’s become a bit of a flood.”

Copa90 has traditionally focused on fan culture and events off the pitch and Kirkham said its coverage of live games will reflect this.

“Everything we do is the antithesis of the suits sat in a studio ethos, that slowly, slowly build-up and prosaic conversation,” he added. “We’re in the crowd, among the pyros and the flares, in a very visceral way. Why would we stop doing that?”