Last week the agency, owned by entrepreneur Riccardo Silva, was awarded the rights for the next two seasons by the football league, Lega Calcio, in the first collective deal for the rights in over a decade. Silva is paying €90.5 million for the 2010-2011 season and €91 million for 2011-2012. The amount represents a 14-per-cent increase on the current value of the rights – about €80 million per season – but is nearly €10 million a season less than the league, and its adviser, the Infront Sports & Media agency, had hoped for.
Silva said that he had paid “above the market value” for the rights, but some experts believe that his level of risk might not be that great. “Everything depends on a few key markets – the Middle East, Japan, Hong Kong and the Americas,” one agency executive said.
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