US media companies Fox and Turner are closing in on a 15-year deal for rights to club football in Argentina after making a concrete contract offer, according to multiple reports in the country.
Argentinian newspaper La Nacion said Fernando Marín, chairman of the Football for All (FPT) scheme that is set to expire at the end of the year, has received a formal proposal from the two companies that will take effect from January 1 and be worth 2.5 billion pesos (€150.8m/$166.5m) on an annual basis.
Under the terms of the deal, games will reportedly be offered free-to-air in 2017 before switching to a pay model from 2018. The 15-year contract would be reviewed every five years, with Fox and Turner set to share profits with the Argentinian Football Association.
La Nacion said the offer will now be put to the clubs for discussion, with the contract being proposed to the government as it is still technically the rights-holder for the top-tier Primera Division.
Speaking to the Télam news agency, AFA interim president Armando Perez confirmed an offer has been received “for a total of 2,500 million pesos for the first year of televising.” He added, according to the lainformacion.com website: “The contract was signed by these companies with AFA. They will have the rights for 15 years and the amount will be increased annually.”
Fox and Turner have both been previously linked with interest in the rights, which are set to become available following the end of the FPT scheme, which currently ensures free-to-air coverage of domestic football competitions.
Argentinian football stakeholders are debating the future makeup of the club game in the country, with a proposal on the table for the current Primera Division to be scrapped and replaced with a new competition.