The South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) has appointed MP & Silva as its new agency partner for the marketing of rights to the 2019 edition of national team tournament the Copa América.
Conmebol has made the decision after analysing offers for the contract that were submitted on March 13. MP & Silva will now provide professional consulting and marketing, sales and after sales services for the commercial assets of next year’s tournament, which will be hosted by Brazil.
Conmebol president Alejandro Dominguez said: “MP & Silva is a well-known firm specialising in the marketing of sports rights and works with major events such as Roland Garros, NFL, (Italy’s) Serie A and the (English) Premier League.
“This decision taken by the Council marks a milestone in the fulfilment of the strategic promise of generating greater value to reinvest in the development of football.”
Conmebol launched a tender process for the contract, which includes the marketing of broadcast, sponsorship and other commercial rights, last month. The tender was overseen by professional services firm Ernst & Young.
Conmebol was seeking a new partner after announcing in November that it had sent notice to the Datisa joint venture company of its decision to terminate an acquisition contract signed in 2013 for the marketing of broadcast and sponsorship rights to the 2019 and 2023 editions of the Copa América.
The decision came after Concacaf, the governing body of football in the Caribbean, North America and Central America, in October 2015 followed Conmebol in ending its commercial rights partnership with Datisa in relation to the Copa América Centenario, which was held in the United States in 2016.
Three of the main shareholders in Datisa were among those indicted by the US in May 2015 during the crackdown on corruption in world football. The US indictment said the three men conspired to win and retain lucrative media rights contracts from regional football federations through the payment of up to $110m (€89.2m) in bribes. The three – Alejandro Burzaco, Hugo Jinkis and his son Mariano Jinkis – are all Argentine citizens.
Conmebol said the US legal proceedings granted it the evidence needed to terminate the contracts with Datisa and cut its links with the firm “definitively”.