The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has launched a tender for rights in Spain to the Copa Del Rey domestic cup competition for the 2019-22 cycle.
The inventory comprises exclusive live rights to up to 117 matches covering the main competition’s six qualifying rounds and the final for the seasons 2019-20 to 2021-22. The successful bidder must broadcast at least 65 matches each season.
The semi-finals and final are required to be broadcast free-to-air and in HD quality.
The tender also offers delayed rights to a maximum of three matches per season in their entirety within the season the matches take place. In addition, the succesful bidder will be able to broadcast matches on a video-on-demand system up to 10 days after the relevant matches are played.
RFEF will be responsible for producing all matches, although the successful bidder will bear the costs, which vary from as low as €12,000 per match for the lowest profile matches to as high as €170,000 for the final.
The deadline for submitting bids is September 30, with the winner announced in early October.
RFEF will tender rights in Spain to the 10-match Copa Del Rey pre-qualifying phase at a later date as well as the European and international broadcasting rights.
It previously only held the rights to the Copa Del Rey final, which it sold to public broadcaster TVE in separate deals over the last two seasons. It sold the rights to the 2017 final to commercial broadcaster Mediaset as part of a wider deal including rights to the Supercopa and friendly matches of the Spanish national team.
Local media outlet, Palco23.com, reported in June that the RFEF has a media rights revenue target of €33.8m for the Copa Del Rey in 2019-20, comprising a €3.8m allocation for the final. TVE is thought to have paid significantly less than the latter allocation for its rights to the 2019 edition of the final.
The Mediapro agency held the rights in the 2016-19 cycle to the remainder of competition, which it acquired from the then rights-holder LaLiga, the body that governs the top two tiers of Spanish league football.
RFEF initially excluded Mediapro from last year’s bidding process for the Copa Del Rey final, before a judge ruled the exclusion unlawful.