Italy's Serie A considers stake sale in overseas media rights
Napoli players and staff parade on a bus to celebrate the scudetto after the Italian Serie A season in Naples. AFP
LONDON – Italy's top football league is exploring selling a stake in its international media rights business, according to people familiar with the matter.
Serie A has reached out to private equity firms to assess their interest, said the sources, who asked not to be identified. The discussions are at an early stage and there is no guarantee of a transaction, the people said.
A representative for Serie A also declined to comment.
A deal could provide much-needed cash for the league that has been looking to turn around one of the world's most iconic football brands.
While Serie A hosts some of Europe's largest football teams such as Juventus, AC and Inter Milan, the latter of which appeared in the latest Champions League final in which they lost to French side Paris Saint-Germain, many of the clubs are operating at a loss.
Outside of England's lucrative Premier League, European football leagues have struggled to sell their media rights. The French league's deal with Dazn Group Ltd, originally worth €400 million (S$596 million) annually, was changed in May following disputes over payments and subscriber numbers.
Serie A's earlier attempt to sell a US$2 billion (S$2.55 billion) stake to an investor group in 2021 collapsed after failing to win over enough clubs.
It also spoke to international lenders and private equity firms two years ago for financing its media business, Bloomberg News reported at the time.
A ban on selling Serie A's domestic media rights to a single buyer is under review.
Serie A's clubs generated €2.9 billion of revenue in the 2023-2024 season, a 2 per cent increase from the previous year, according to a report by Deloitte. The international media rights were sold for around €700 million for a three-year period ending 2024, one of the people said.
Private equity firms have been active in backing European football leagues and their clubs.
CVC is an investor in La Liga, the Spanish top-flight league that was once home to Lionel Messi and other superstars of the world's most popular sport. It also bought a 13 per cent stake in the media rights business of France's Ligue 1 for €1.5 billion.
Germany's Bundesliga held extensive negotiations with CVC and other funds over a media rights deal but the process eventually collapsed in 2024 following a backlash from fans critical of foreign capital.
Primeira Liga, the Portuguese football league, is also planning to bundle its broadcasting rights for the first time by 2028, a move set to test the appetite for European football rights at a time when other markets have struggled. BLOOMBERG
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