Phil Lines resigned this (Thursday) morning as media-rights adviser to the Asian Football Confederation, hours before the bid deadline for the AFC’s global rights.
Lines had been working with the AFC on the tender of its rights for the period 2021 to 2028 for about two years.
It is unclear why Lines, a former executive with the English Premier League, walked out on the process. It is understood that Tom Liston, the former head of marketing at the Team Marketing agency, who was advising the AFC on the sponsorship side of the process, has not resigned.
The development will be of concern to agencies bidding in what could be a multi-billion-dollar process. A senior executive at one of the agencies planning to bid told TV Sports Markets this morning: “It doesn’t exactly inspire you with confidence in the process when one of the two main consultants walks out on the eve of the bidding.”
Another agency source said the involvement of Lines and Liston was one of the factors providing agencies with a degree of comfort that the process would not be hijacked by local politics or other interests.
The commercial rights are currently held by Lagardère Sports subsidiary World Sport Group, which has handled them since 1993. This is the first time the AFC has put its rights out to market in a formal tender process. The governing body is determined that the process is clean, and is perceived by the industry to be clean.
The AFC said today: “Many industry leading consultants are making a valuable contribution to the tender process and the AFC recognises that hard work. In addition to the guidance of these consultants, there is a robust set of checks and balances in place to assess the bids, carry out background checks and ensure the process meets the highest standards of integrity.
“This includes the appointment of internationally renowned external auditors as well as an internal monitoring group involving members of the three most relevant AFC standing committees – marketing, finance and audit. AFC will make no further comment until the process is concluded.”
Experts believe the net outlay on the rights, which exclude the media rights in the Middle East and North Africa, could be at least $1.5bn (€1.2bn). The rights, which include media and sponsorship for both club and national team competitions, could cost at least $2bn over the eight years. Agency costs, including host broadcasting and event delivery, could rise to about $500m over the term.