Infront Sports & Media will enter final negotiations to retain its contract as the media-rights sales adviser to Lega Serie A, the top division of Italian football, after clubs on Monday voted to reject an offer from rival agency IMG Media.
Infront last month offered to guarantee the Lega media-rights income of €5.5bn ($7.48bn) over six seasons, from 2015-16 to 2020-21, to retain its Serie A partnership. The agency’s current six-year deal as adviser is due to expire at the end of the 2015-16 season.
The agency had proposed a new contract worth €900m per season for the 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 campaigns, rising to €930m for each of the 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons.
IMG last week submitted a rival offer for the 2015-16 to 2017-18 seasons. The offer is said to have guaranteed minimum income of €2.979bn over the three seasons.
However, Serie A’s 20 clubs have elected to proceed with Infront’s offer on amended terms. The clubs are seeking to finalise an initial three-year deal that would be extended for a further three years, depending on certain pre-agreed targets being met.
The Corriere dello Sport newspaper said that the clubs are seeking a guaranteed sum of around €1bn a year for the first three years, rising to €1.15bn for the second period of a finalised contract.
The Lega has appointed Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli and Lazio counterpart Claudio Lotito to lead final negotiations with Infront over the counter proposal.
Lega Serie A president Maurizio Beretta said: “This (counter offer) will open a negotiation on the basis of a three-year contract plus three, with automatic renewal at achieving a set target. It is important to emphasise that the clubs voted unanimously.”