Thursday was the last day for U.S. networks to submit bids to pick up rights to
the EPL, according to several sources who say they do not know when the
EPL will formally announce a winner. ESPN and Fox Soccer currently hold
the U.S. TV rights, and sources said both networks have submitted bids.
NBC Universal Sports also has submitted a bid for the rights. Sources
say al-Jazeera-owned BeIN Sport, IMG and Discovery Networks were
considering submitting bids, as well. The EPL last sold its rights three
years ago to Fox Soccer. The channel, in turn, sublicensed about 80
games per season to ESPN. The two media companies have submitted a
similar joint bid this week. The package is especially important to Fox
Sports, which runs Fox Soccer. "English Premier League is truly one of
the world’s elite organizations and the level of soccer is
unparalleled,” said Fox Soccer Exec VP & GM David Nathanson. “Fox
has increased the league’s U.S. exposure tremendously during this
current three year cycle, and we hope to be able to continue to grow the
league and sport in America going forward." Fox Soccer VP/National Ad
Sales Mike Petruzzi, a former exec at SUM, said EPL broadcasts have been
instrumental in selling sponsorships at the network. “It takes time,”
said Petruzzi in an interview late this summer. “There were times when
it wasn’t easy to get in the door. But when we meet with CMOs and heads
of agencies, everyone’s a soccer fan. With the EPL now, there’s a great
level of awareness.”
NBC BID NOT AS STRONG AS EXPECTED: While NBC Sports
submitted a bid, sources said it was not as strong as some were
expecting. NBC’s cable channel, NBC Sports Network, is in the market for
more live sports. But NBC’s F1 deal, which was announced earlier this
week, will fill some of the same windows NBC Sports would need for the
EPL, sources said. BeIN Sport has been aggressive in picking up
int'l soccer rights to top European leagues, as the net has deep
pockets. But there is a question whether it would have enough weekend
morning windows to accommodate EPL, given its existing deals with La
Liga and Serie A. There is also a question of whether EPL would sell its
rights to a channel that has little distribution and is relegated to
sports tiers. Discovery for the past several years has made noise about
trying to add sports to some of its channels like Velocity, a channel
targeting the 25-54 demo. It is not clear how serious Discovery will be
in trying to pick up EPL rights. IMG did not return a phone call by
deadline, but its interest in EPL almost certainly would be to
sublicense the games to interested networks.
