The IMG Media and Lagardère Unlimited agencies are understood to be facing a challenge from an unexpected source in the battle to land the global media rights to Uefa’s European Qualifiers package for four years from 2014-15. A third agency bid, from an as-yet unidentified company, has been short-listed by Uefa, European football’s governing body.
The bid is said to be fronted by former top Lagardère Unlimited executives Olivier Guiguet and Stéphane Schindler.
Uefa is currently weighing up the three bids, having already assessed bids for single or multiple territories from broadcasters. Armed with the broadcaster valuations for specific markets, last week it asked each of the agency bidders to submit a second offer. It is thought likely to accept broadcaster bids only if it cannot secure a high-enough fee for global rights from one of the three agencies.
One source close to the negotiations claimed that after the first round of bids, IMG had made the most aggressive projection regarding the potential value of the rights, allied to a modest commission demand, but had not offered to underwrite the whole amount with a bank guarantee. Lagardère was said to have offered a minimum guarantee but for a smaller amount. Neither company was available for comment.
Uefa is understood to have rejected a number of smaller agency bids after the first round, including bids from Infront Sports & Media and Ufa Sports. An expected agency bid from Al Jazeera Sports did not materialise.
The bid fronted by Schindler and Guiguet is seen as something of an outsider but few details have yet emerged about who is funding it. Since the pair quit Lagardère in May 2011, they have been working separately as rights consultants. Given the very strict criteria laid down by Uefa to qualify as an agency bidder, it seems unlikely that a newco created by the two men could be behind the bid.
In addition to the knowledge of the rights business gained at Lagardère, the two also have strong contacts in the world of sport. Guiguet was the right-hand man of Uefa president Michel Platini on the organising committee for the Fifa World Cup in France in 1998. It was Guiguet who oversaw the creation of Lagardère’s sports division through the 2006 acquisition of the Sportfive agency. Schindler spent two years in charge of rights acquisitions at French broadcaster Canal Plus and then six years handling major sports clients for IMG before joining Lagardère.
Uefa has received a bid from the European Broadcasting Union, the consortium of public-service broadcasters. The bid is not for the whole of Europe but includes at least one of the big five television markets – Germany – with ARD and ZDF joining the EBU bid. Pay-television broadcaster Al Jazeera Sports is said to have made aggressive bids for the rights in the Middle East, in the US and in France, though the French bid does not cover France matches, which are listed events and must be shown on free-to-air television.
Uefa has promised its member federations between €1 billion ($1.26 billion) and €1.2 billion over the four years but, according to industry sources, is resigned to falling short of that target and having to cover the difference from its own reserves. Uefa sources have always maintained that it is confident of hitting its targets.
The rights are expected to be awarded at the beginning of July.