Italian soccer’s top-tier men’s Serie A has today (August 3) unveiled the terms and conditions of the tender process for its overseas broadcast rights from 2024-25 onwards.
The next tender process will cover Serie A, as well as the Coppa Italia knockout competition and the annual Supercup match between the winners of the previous season’s league and Coppa Italia.
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A document published on the league’s website outlines that due to changes in government legislation around sports rights deals, made last year, the media rights tie-ups in each territory “will be finalized through direct negotiations or … through requests for proposal that Lega Serie A will issue in due course for specific countries, territories, or regions.”
The document also covers obligations for broadcasters, sub-licensing options, payment conditions, and technical costs associated with the broadcast.
Up to this point, Serie A has struck deals for its international rights primarily with agencies on a global or near-global basis but will now go about the process separately in key markets.
The league has said the new approach will “allow Serie A to be fully responsive to the specific demands and needs of each market.”
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By GlobalDataThe Swiss-based Infront agency currently deals with Serie A for its broadcast rights in all territories except the Middle East and North Africa, for the 2021-24 cycle. Before that, the agency of choice was IMG.
The league has also said that a “deep market scouting phase” has taken place over the last few months. It is expected to begin sending out specific request for proposal documents in key territories in the coming weeks.
The aforementioned changes to government legislation also gave the league license to – if it wishes – increase the time limit on broadcast rights contracts from three years, as it is limited to currently.
Last year, internal Serie A documents obtained by media showed that for the cycle starting in 2024, the league is aiming to secure at least €1.1 billion ($1.2 billion) from international rights deals – roughly the same as for the next domestic rights cycle (for which the tender process is taking place now).
This process is being headed up by Anna Guarnerio, who joined the league in a senior media rights role in December after spending 25 years at Infront Italy.
While at Infront, she worked closely with the league given the agency’s role as Serie A’s international rights partner of choice in most markets.
Serie A will issue a separate tender for international betting and data rights soon.
In terms of the specific broadcast requirements, the 20-team Serie A has included the condition that broadcast partners must show at least five matches of the 10 per gameweek, three via TV and – if necessary – two via a streaming platform.
For the Coppa Italia, at least 20 matches across the competition must be shown, while the Supercup must be covered live on TV.
Image: Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images
