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Spanish broadcaster Mediaset and global over-the-top (OTT) sports media company DAZN have joined forces to bid for domestic rights to the Copa del Rey, the country’s top club soccer knockout competition, SportsPro understands.
The new offer was submitted to the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) during the third round of bidding in the tender process to award the media contract for the 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22 editions of the Copa del Rey.
The RFEF is expecting to secure €45 million (US$50 million) per season for the rights, a figure that is quite far from the bids submitted up to now.
Mediapro, which subsequently dropped out of the bidding process, claimed it had presented the highest offer, topping €18 million (US$20 million) per season, as it lashed out at the RFEF for its handling of the tender. The agency described the national soccer body’s €45 million asking price as ‘absolutely exorbitant and out of the market’ in a strongly worded statement.
In those earlier rounds of bidding, Mediaset’s solo offer and a joint Telefónica-RTVE submission did not top €13 million (US$14.48 million).
The RFEF declared that contest void and set a new deadline for submissions for 25th October. Now, only the Movistar-RTVE bid and the Mediaset-DAZN offer remain.
Copa del Rey rights were previously sold by La Liga, the body for Spanish soccer’s top two professional tiers. During the 2016 to 2019 cycle Mediapro paid €5.67 million (US$6.31 million) per year to broadcast the competition. However, that package also included eight La Liga matches. The rights for the final were sold separately by the RFEF.
Mediaset and DAZN have joined forces to bid for domestic rights to the Copa del Rey
Spanish broadcaster Mediaset and global over-the-top (OTT) sports media company DAZN have joined forces to bid for domestic rights to the Copa del Rey, the country’s top club soccer knockout competition, SportsPro understands.
The new offer was submitted to the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) during the third round of bidding in the tender process to award the media contract for the 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22 editions of the Copa del Rey.
The RFEF is expecting to secure €45 million (US$50 million) per season for the rights, a figure that is quite far from the bids submitted up to now.
Mediapro, which subsequently dropped out of the bidding process, claimed it had presented the highest offer, topping €18 million (US$20 million) per season, as it lashed out at the RFEF for its handling of the tender. The agency described the national soccer body’s €45 million asking price as ‘absolutely exorbitant and out of the market’ in a strongly worded statement.
In those earlier rounds of bidding, Mediaset’s solo offer and a joint Telefónica-RTVE submission did not top €13 million (US$14.48 million).
The RFEF declared that contest void and set a new deadline for submissions for 25th October. Now, only the Movistar-RTVE bid and the Mediaset-DAZN offer remain.
Copa del Rey rights were previously sold by La Liga, the body for Spanish soccer’s top two professional tiers. During the 2016 to 2019 cycle Mediapro paid €5.67 million (US$6.31 million) per year to broadcast the competition. However, that package also included eight La Liga matches. The rights for the final were sold separately by the RFEF.
