May 17 – Serie A is targeting up to €7.2 billion from the upcoming sale of its domestic TV rights. The Italian top flight plans to extend contract durations from their current three-year cycle to up to five years in a bit to narrow the revenue gap with the Premier League, LaLiga and Bundesliga.
Luigi De Siervo, CEO of Serie A, said that they have engaged with the market and found that rights buyers are interested in longer contracts due to the potential for higher investment returns that become possible over the longer term.
Serie A earned approximately €2.8 billion from the sale of TV rights in Italy during the three-year cycle ending in June 2024. DAZN and Sky Italia, owned by Comcast, hold most of the rights.
This figure represents roughly half of what the English Premier League collects from its existing TV deals in its home market.
To excite broadcasters, De Siervo has created eight different rights packages. Each package offers contracts ranging from three to five years, with a range of games which have varying degrees of exclusivity. The sales process will commence in June.
The league believes that it can generate rights fees ranging from €3.6 billion for three-year contracts to €7.2 billion over a five-year period.
In a departure from previous sales processes, Serie A will accept bids for individual Saturday night matches, opening up the competition to both free-to-air and pay-TV broadcasters.
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