Billions are no longer flowing
The “stupidity” of Serie A serves as a warning to the Bundesliga
November 20, 2023, 3:03 p.m
Series A? Earn less on the new TV deal than on the old one. Ligue 1? Doesn’t even get an offer from her long-term partner. La Liga? Also has to deal with a minus. The contracts concluded by Europe’s major football leagues serve as an urgent warning to the German Football League.
A look at the other leagues doesn’t bode well. While the Bundesliga is still preparing its tender for TV rights in the background, the current marketing problems in other media markets are already becoming very clear. After the decline in the Spanish La Liga, there was also a recent deal in Italy with falling income and corresponding anger. In France the tender was even canceled due to a significant lack of offers.
The times of strong growth are obviously over. “Word has now gotten around that other leagues are reaching their limits in their home markets like in Italy,” said the new DFL managing director Steffen Merkel when he was introduced in the summer – and he didn’t even know the result of Serie A at that time.
Instead of the hoped-for billion dollar deal, the Italian league will only receive 900 million euros per year from 2024/25 to 2028/29. “It’s a defeat for Italian football,” complained Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis. “With this offer, football will die.” What particularly annoys him is that the revenue is even lower than the old contract, which brought in 927 million annually for the three years up to 2024. Serie A President Lorenzo Casini, however, was relieved and stated: “A happy ending.”
According to Italian media reports, 700 million will come from DAZN and 200 million from Sky. The two providers “are not competent, they are not good for Italian football,” complained the boss of the Italian champions. So via the same pay-TV providers that are also partners of the Bundesliga. De Laurentiis also complained about “the stupidity of signing a five-year contract.”
Only the Premier League receives stable revenue
In France it is even trickier. The tender was also supposed to bring a total volume of one billion euros per season, but failed in mid-October due to too few offers. The long-standing partner Canal+ even refused to make an offer at all. The conditions seemed favorable. According to media reports, DAZN now wants to enter the French market, and beIN Sport and Amazon are again interested in the TV rights – but not at the prices desired by Ligue 1. Now the league has to hold individual discussions.
The debacle was even worse with the last contract, when Mediapro, a newcomer wanted by all leagues, entered the bidding. But shortly after the bid was won, the auction winner was insolvent. The currently still valid emergency contract with Canal+ and Amazon Prime Video only brings in around 580 million per season instead of the originally estimated 1.15 billion.
In Spain there was also a recent deal with falling income. Instead of 1.1 billion, according to the trade magazine “Spobis”, there are only around 995 million per year for the six-year contract that has been in effect since the 2022/23 season. Accordingly, only the Premier League with the most recent conclusion for the 2022/23 season remains stable at 1.632 billion pounds (currently 1.863 billion euros).
Given the developments in the other top 5 leagues, an increase in revenue for the Bundesliga currently seems unrealistic. Especially since Sky and DAZN, the largest pay-TV providers in Germany, are struggling with profitability and other problems. DFL managing director Merkel said: “We don’t find the easiest market environment for the tender.” If there were 4.4 billion euros for four years at next year’s auction, that would be a success.