As European rivals continue to benefit from massive media rights deals, Italy’s top soccer league is looking for a bigger piece of the pie.
Serie A has taken steps to improve its overseas reach, opening a base in New York and planning for offices in London and Abu Dhabi — and now the league wants to triple its international media rights revenue by 2030.
- Serie A is set to make $658 million from international media rights between 2021 and 2024.
- Between 2022-25, the Premier League will pocket $6.55 billion for overseas rights.
- Spain’s La Liga is in the second season of an eight-year, $1.4 billion rights deal with ESPN.
Serie A — which generated $2.4 billion in revenue during the 2020-21 season, per Deloitte — is also looking to spin off an upcoming media unit to boost revenue after failing to sell a 10% stake worth $2 billion to three investors in 2021. On Friday, the league began the formal process of creating the media unit, which is expected to attract several private equity firms.
The league had previously looked to secure a deal with CVC Capital Partners, Advent International, and Italy’s FSI fund. It is unclear whether those investors will try again.
Foreign Owners
In May, New York-based private investment firm RedBird Capital Partners finalized a deal to purchase AC Milan, valuing the Serie A club at $1.3 billion, according to Bloomberg.
AC Milan is one of nine Serie A clubs currently in business with North American investors.
