No more big-money signings as broadcasters forced to scale back, says Mediapro boss Roures

Madrid (AFP) – The days of European clubs spending hundreds of millions on transfers are over with television companies set to scale back on their investments in football, according to Jaume Roures, chief executive of Spanish media company Mediapro. 

Mediapro could prove a key player in clubs surviving the financial crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic after it snapped up most of the domestic rights for France’s Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 for four years starting next season in a total deal worth a record 1.153 billion euros ($1.25 billion) annually.

The Chinese-owned company also has rights to show La Liga matches in pubs and bars in Spain, despite its deal as the league’s principle broadcaster ending two years ago. 

The likes of Sky Sports and BT Sport, the English Premier League’s domestic broadcasters in the UK, and Sky in Germany, will be watching with interest to see how Mediapro handles its contract due to begin in France in August. It has not yet even set up a channel. 

In an exclusive interview with AFP, Roures insisted the agreement already in place with French clubs “will not change” but was more sceptical about the sums broadcasters will be able to spend on new deals in future.

“The amounts spent on rights, in general, had reached the maximum already,” Roures said. “It’s obvious that TV rights will be affected by this.”

Any reductions will hit clubs hard, with Barcelona, the richest football club in the world, making around 35 per cent of their total revenue last season through television income. For European champions Liverpool, the figure was even higher at almost 50 per cent. 

“The days of football clubs paying hundreds of millions of euros for players is over,” says Roures. “Because clubs will run out of money and because banks will not lend money to clubs with the same ease as before. 

“All that will change and I think it’s very positive. I never agreed with clubs paying 140, 160 million euros for a football player. It will be very positive for society in general and for the clubs’ finances in particular.” 

Roures believes the prospect of Barcelona buying Neymar back from Paris Saint-Germain, for example, is “now impossible”. “Barcelona simply does not have the economic strength,” he said. 

– ‘Audiences will be better’ –

Some broadcasters are already stalling, with beIN and Canal Plus pausing payments due to the current season stopping in France while in the UK, Sky Sports are allowing customers to freeze subscriptions in the hope of halting an exodus. 

from World Soccer Talk https://ift.tt/34XIJ1n