FIFA Boots US$2.8B Rights Offer For 2010 And 2014 World Cups

FIFA Declines $2.8B TV Rights Deal From iSe

FIFA has "turned down an offer of a minimum" US$2.78B from Zurich-based Int'l Sports & Entertainment (iSe) for worldwide rights to the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, according to David Owen of the FINANCIAL TIMES. While TV rights for the '02 and '06 World Cups went for at least US$2.18B, the new proposal is "not directly comparable because it is thought to envisage acquisition of a broader rights package. However, the 2010 and 2014 competitions will be held in much tougher commercial markets" — Africa in 2010 and South America in 2014. iSe — in which France-based advertising company Publicis and Japan-based Dentsu are large shareholders — is "believed to have devised a concept labelled `enhanced broadcasting rights' under which television companies would acquire broadcasting rights leavened with rights in other areas such as marketing, licensing, hospitality and new media. It sees this as a way for FIFA to compensate for a possible lower income from sponsorship, hospitality and licensing in less commercially attractive countries." FIFA Business Division Dir Jerome Valcke said the proposal covered "a range of commercial rights, which explains why we were not able to say yes or even discuss it. ... If you take this number without (considering) what it was about, it seems it is a big figure; if you put it in front of what it was about, it is a very low one" (FINANCIAL TIMES, 5/7). In London, Owen Gibson reports FIFA's decision "signal[s] its belief that the tournament's worth will continue to rise despite the recent decline in sports rights values" (LONDON GUARDIAN, 5/7).