Serie A, here is the real war between football clubs on Sky-Dazn
How Serie A football clubs divide up on TV rights. Facts, names, numbers and reconstructions
From the clash on the pitch to that in the classrooms of the Lega assembly: A's clubs are divided on the theme of funds and TV rights.
Never as this year, due to economic difficulties, the companies of the Italian top football league feel the weight of the decisions to be made regarding the sale of TV rights and the possible entry of the private equity consortium formed by Cvc, Advent and Fsi in the Serie A media company. The importance of these choices has inflamed the atmosphere of the last Lega assemblies, creating two distinct sides: the seven sisters and the club of 9.
WHAT HAPPENED TODAY AT THE ASSEMBLY OF THE SERIES A TEAMS
Nothing to do for the assignment of the audiovisual rights of Serie A for the 2021-24 seasons. In the assembly held this morning via video link, the clubs voted on the offers received from Dazn and Sky Italia without reaching the majority useful for the assignment: 11 votes in favor of Dazn's offer, 9 abstentions. In a note, the Serie A League specified that the discussion of the issue will continue in a new assembly, scheduled for next week.
THE (NEW) SEVEN SISTERS AND THE CLUB OF 9 IN SERIE A
For a long time, in the story of this championship, there was talk of the “seven sisters” ready to battle for the title (Milan, Inter, Rome, Lazio, Atalanta, Naples and Juventus). In the assembly, however, the "new" sisters (Milan and Rome were replaced by Fiorentina and Verona) decided to put aside the grudges of the field to make a common front on central issues such as TV rights and the entry of funds into the media company.
After two meetings in which no decision was reached, these clubs sent a letter to the president of the A League, Paolo dal Pino, asking him to break all delay and accept Dazn's offer (840 million a year for 7 exclusive matches and 3 in cohabitation that could bring another 70 million into the coffers of the companies) for the audiovisual rights of the three-year period 2021-2024.
The club of 9, formed by Rome , Bologna, Turin, Crotone, Genoa, Sampdoria, Sassuolo, Benevento and Spezia, not convinced by Dazn's offer, more in terms of national and international streaming coverage than from the economic aspect, has replied with another letter addressed to Dal Pino refuting accusations made by the seven sisters. The answer shows the preference of the club of 9 for the offer presented by Sky (750 million per year for satellite rights as well as the possibility of having a Lega channel that could yield from 50 to 70 million extra, according to Sole24ore ) which would guarantee immediately upon signing a check for 505 million, in addition to the promise to pay the 130 million installment still pending from last season.
But the clash is not limited to the question of rights, but also involves the issue of funds. Despite the unanimous approval in the assembly of November 19, 2020 for the entry into the media company of A of the private equity consortium, as the 9 clubs point out in their letter, the seven sisters would like to give priority to the transfer of rights tv and then, at a later stage, think about the agreement with CVC-Advent-Fsi.
THE COLD WAR ON THE ROME-TURIN AXIS
To make the climate even hotter is the relationship between the leaders of these two factions: Urbano Cairo for the nine medium-small and Claudio Lotito for the big ones. For more than a year now the presidents of Turin and Lazio have not missed an opportunity to get caught, as the newspaper La Verità pointed out : the clash in the League is only the latest chapter in a story of rivalry that is divided between the field and civil and sports courts.
The two have often argued about the health protocol. On March 2, Turin-Lazio should have been played, but due to the Covid outbreak which broke out in the ranks of the grenades, the Piedmontese ASL blocked the team, creating a situation very similar to what happened for Napoli-Juventus: game initially won 3 -0 at the table to the bianconeri and, then, following the decision of the sports judge, still to be recovered. A few months earlier, in November 2020, Cairo through its newspapers, did not spare the rival Lotito by opening an investigation for "violations of the protocol by Lazio", in particular for the positivity of Ciro Immobile not communicated to the ASL.
Today, after yet another gray smoke, President Dal Pino closed the meeting asking the companies to rediscover the unity of purpose that has characterized the league work in recent months: the only way to restart is to do it all together.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/serie-a-ecco-la-vera-guerra-tra-societa-di-calcio-su-sky-dazn/ on Thu, 11 Mar 2021 15:00:18 +0000.