The Argentinian government has launched a tender process for the 2017 season of the ‘Football for All’ scheme, which reserves domestic football coverage in Argentina for free-to-air television, despite uncertainty over the initiative and the future of the domestic game as a whole.
Argentinian newspaper La Nacion said the tender includes national, international and internet broadcast rights for the top-tier Primera Division, with the government receiving bids for domestic rights up to July 7 and international offers within a 40-day window.
Daniel Angelici, president of Boca Juniors, last month said that interested stakeholders included “US broadcaster Turner, another composed of the Clarin group, Torneos and DirecTV, Al Jazeera in partnership with Uruguayan businessman Paco Casal, and Fox, also from the US”.
The IMG and Mediapro agencies are also reported to be interested in the international rights to the Primera Division.
The future of Football for All is uncertain after the Argentinian Football Association last month suggested that the arrangement with the government could be curtailed. AFA president Luis Segura said after a meeting of 12 clubs that the association would be interested in sealing an agreement with the government, which has the rights to the domestic league, to end the deal before it is due to expire in 2019.
The AFA is currently at the centre of a power battle, while there are proposals to introduce a new ‘Superliga’ to replace the current Primera Division.