By Paul Nicholson
January 27 – The Premier League’s bumper €2.4 billion per season deal that kicks in with the 2016 season start has been well documented. Other leagues have looked on in envy and anticipation of good things to come in their home markets. Football Benchmark has looked at the macro-economies of the European countries to see if the English deal is justifiably much bigger than their European counterparts.
The conclusion is”that football broadcasting rights spending across Europe’s ‘big five’ (leagues) is very far from being balanced”.
Looking at the Premier League on a price per game basis – the Premier League sells 168 matches out of a total of 380 matches played each season – the new deal shows a jump from €8.4 million (2013-16) to €14 million per game (€ 21.7 cents per inhabitant per game).
Compare this to Germany’s Bundesliga that receives €628 million per season (€2.1 million per game) in a deal that ends in 2017. Football Benchmark points out that the Bundesliga clearly has not been able to capitalise on the dominant economic power of the German market – though a new deal is in negotiation and the relaxing of regulation to create a competitive market (a ‘no single buyer rule’ has been implemented) could push up prices.
But, the report says: “Considering population sizes (Germany 81.2 vs England 64.8 million), GDP per capita (EUR 44,130 vs 42,748) and quality of product on the pitch, the difference in broadcasting revenues currently existing between the two leagues is hardly justifiable.”
Spain’s La Liga has yet to complete its TV sales thought the most attractive packages have been sold for the 2016-19 period for €983 million per season. 342 league matches have been sold amounting to €2.9 million per game (€6.2 cents per inhabitant per game). Football Benchmark points out that this “is not only above all other competitions except for the Premier League, but it is also impressive for a country with the lowest population and GDP per capita among the ‘big five’ leagues.”
Italy’s Serie A is currently in €945 million per season deal that runs from 2015-18. An increase of approximately €100 million on the previous agreement, Football Benchmark points out “this figure is not far from the recent deal closed by La Liga, the lower price per game (2.5 million) and per inhabitant (€4.1 cents) shows that there is likely further growth potential on the Italian market.
At €1.97 million, France’s Ligue 1 remains fifth out of five in terms of average broadcasting price per game, even though France has a larger population and a higher GDP per capita than Italy and Spain, indicating that the French TV deal is undervalued, though is a 20% increase on the previous deal. The new deal started this season and runs until 2020.
View the full report at https://www.footballbenchmark.com/european_leagues_broadcasting_rights
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