The English Football League is in talks with its international broadcast partners about the possibility of showing extra Cardiff City matches in Asia in the next rights cycle, from 2012-13 to 2016-17.
Welsh newspaper the Western Mail reported that the move was initiated by Cardiff as part of efforts by its Asian owner, the Malaysian businessman Vincent Tan, to boost the club’s overseas profile.
Cardiff plays in the Championship, the division below the Premier League. The Football League runs and sells the rights for the three divisions below the Premier League.
The rights for Football League matches in the next cycle are currently being sold in Asia by the MP & Silva agency, which sublicensed them from the Pitch International agency, which had earlier acquired the league’s global rights outside the UK.
The Western Mail reported that Cardiff’s plan would involve the club arranging its own television production for league matches that were not currently scheduled to be produced and broadcast. The rights for these extra matches would then be sold as an additional package by Pitch.
Rights revenues from the extra matches would be collected by the league and split equally between clubs, so as not to undermine the league’s collective rights sales strategy. Cardiff would benefit from increased exposure and the potential for better sponsorship revenues.
“We are currently discussing the issue with our international broadcast partners,” the league told the newspaper.
Cardiff’s owner Tan has already changed the colour of the team’s home kit from blue to red for the 2012-13 season after saying that it would make the club more appealing to an Asian audience.