Kirch Secures $4.4B Loan For Bundesliga Broadcast Rights

Kirch Secures US$4.4B Loan For Bundesliga Broadcast Rights

KirchGroup Founder Leo Kirch has “confirmed reports that his company Sirius SportsMedia has obtained” a US$4.4B bank guarantee to secure broadcast rights to the German Bundesliga, according to Ed Meza of the DAILY VARIETY. A Kirch spokesperson “declined to name the bank,” but recent media reports have indicated Austria-based Raiffeisen Zentralbank is the likely financial institution. Last year the league "agreed to award control of the rights to Sirius in return for a guaranteed" US$738M per season over six years beginning in ’09. The deal was “contingent on a bank guarantee to be presented by the end of the month” (DAILY VARIETY, 1/30).