December 20 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has now officially confirmed that its commercial rights sales tender for the two cycles between 2021 and 2028 will be published 1 February 2018.
The tender, to be issued to agencies and broadcasters, will close at the end of March and the bids will then be reviewed by the AFC’s executive committee.
The next rights cycle is important for the AFC as it is the opportunity to break away from a long-standing but restrictive all-rights deal. The current rights holder is Lagardere Sport.
With media fragmenting and marketing becoming more targeted across new and engaged platforms, the AFC identified a need to have a more flexible approach to fund their rapidly growing competitions.
The confederation said that: “In the next cycle, the AFC aims to further increase its tailor-made support for Member Associations, to continue to invest in competitions and to ensure that the AFC has the resources available to support those ambitions.”
Emphasising a transparent and fair process in the tender, AFC resident Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said: “We start from a strong foundation. By working together, hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, the Member Associations have given the AFC the opportunity to deliver an ambitious Vision and Mission which provides focused and tailor-made services to maximise the potential of the MAs – and the results have been impressive.
“The financial return demonstrates that this commitment is matched by action – the total investment in Member Association services will have risen from $17.366 million in the cycle from 2013 to 2016 to more than $39.091 million by 2018.
“And as the AFC competitions grow, there will be increased financial support to continue to reward success. This will deliver world-class platforms for Asian teams and their players.”
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