Competition for Serie A Heats Up

Domestic broadcasting rights to Italy’s top-tier soccer league are in high demand.

Serie A’s 2021-24 rights are up for grabs and the league is expected to discuss finalists this week, hoping to capitalize on mounting interest and help offset pandemic losses. 

DAZN is reportedly the leading bidder, but SKY — a unit of U.S.-based Comcast — is keeping it close. The two have shared Serie A rights for the past three years.

Though Serie A is targeting $1.38 billion per season, DAZN’s high bid was $705.8 million to stream all matches, and SKY offered roughly $622.8 million to air games across multiple platforms.

Discovery and MediaPro are also in talks for the bid. Amazon was previously reported to be interested, but only wanted a “limited package,” which wasn’t enough for the league.

“I think there is room to improve the offers,” Serie A chief executive Luigi De Siervo told the Italian press. “They were not so bad as some could expect given the situation with the coronavirus pandemic.”

Late last week, the Serie A conversation shifted when a private equity consortium threatened to walk back on its approximately $2 billion deal for 10% of the league’s new broadcast rights company.