Spanish agency Mediapro has reportedly increased its offer for rights in Italy to football’s Serie A.
Spanish newspaper AS, citing a report from Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, said that Mediapro’s new offer is worth €1.15bn ($1.3bn) per season, up from the previous offer of €1.05bn. This would cover the 2021-22 to 2023-24 seasons.
Mediapro is also interested in securing rights for the following three seasons, from 2024-25 to 2026-27, which it has previously valued at €1.1bn per season.
Italian newspaper La Repubblica has reported that the new proposal could eventually be worth as much as €1.3bn per season.
Under its proposals, Mediapro plans on creating a joint-venture channel with the league that would provide coverage of matches.
Pay-television broadcaster Sky Italia and digital sports content and media company DAZN Group currently hold domestic rights to Serie A. The agreements, announced in June 2018, run until the end of the 2020-21 campaign.
Lega Serie A had previously signed a deal for the 2018-19 to 2020-21 period with Mediapro, but later scrapped its agreement with the agency after reportedly failing to receive a bank guarantee for the first season of the deal.
The league kept a deposit of €64m paid by Mediapro and the two parties have been involved in a long-running legal dispute since then. A court hearing that had been scheduled for June 24 was postponed.
SportBusiness Media reported last month that the disputed €64m figure would act as a ‘transaction fee’ if Mediapro’s offer for the next cycle of rights is accepted.