Fox, Telemundo and Futbol de Primera Radio last week secured the US broadcast rights to the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in a deal worth a reported $1.2 billion. The announcement was made on the sidelines of FIFA’s Executive Committee meeting in Zurich and represented a significant increase in the value of FIFA’s rights in the market. FIFA on Thursday announced that it had also sold rights to SBS in Australia, Bell Media in Canada and IMC across the Caribbean.
Bell Media, which includes the channels CTV, TSN and RDS, took the FIFA rights away from incumbent holder public broadcaster CBC, while SBS and IMC extended existing agreements. FIFA also awarded the sales representation for 26 territories in Asia, including China and India, to Infront Sports & Media following an international tender process.
Niclas Ericson, FIFA’s director of TV, said: “Infront offered the best package for this important and very complex project both in financial as well as marketing aspects. We believe that the team will deliver the best possible results for FIFA and help us achieve our distribution and financial objectives in Asia.”
The current batch of FIFA rights incorporate all tournaments held during the 2015-22 cycle. It has been reported that the rights raised so far represent a 90% increase in the specific territories on the previous tender cycle, which included the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.
The new agreements confirm the enduring appeal of FIFA’s showpiece tournament despite the scandals and negative headlines that have dogged world football’s governing body in recent times. “FIFA is delighted with the progress of our media rights sales to date which, coming amid austere economic times, more than confirm the strength and appeal of our competitions,” said FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke.
