It's Official: ESPN/ABC has 2010 and 2014 rights

[tobycharles]

Mods, feel free to merge in to other thread if you don't feel this worthy of a standalone.

http://fifa.com/en/media/index/0,1369,110918,00.html

[DAGSports]

Interesting.

Hopefully ESPN puts something up on their Media site later (press releases) with more details. I'd imagine that they secured the ability to sublicense products like the World Club Championship, Confederations Cup, and World Youth Championships (maybe excluding USA games) as I can't imagine anything but the Men's and Women's World Cup Finals would get nearly good enough ratings for ESPN to place it on ESPN or ESPN 2 at the expense of things like Tennis' Grand Slams (relatively low ratings, but all-day French Open and Wimbledon coverage sell a ton of ads) and obviously MLB. I could be wrong though, and I hope I am as the alternative is probably Setanta Sports USA.

[MasterShake29]

If the sublicencee is indeed Setanta that would not be a good thing.

[DAGSports]

If the sublicencee is indeed Setanta that would not be a good thing.
Can't imagine it would be anyone else. ESPN and FOX are rivals, while Gol TV would have to broadcast exclusively in English to protect Univision, and Gol TV tries to acquire programming it can air in both Spanish and English (the main stuff- La Liga, Serie A, UEFA Cup, WCQs).

[joebloe888]

Can't imagine it would be anyone else. ESPN and FOX are rivals, while Gol TV would have to broadcast exclusively in English to protect Univision, and Gol TV tries to acquire programming it can air in both Spanish and English (the main stuff- La Liga, Serie A, UEFA Cup, WCQs).

ESPN has sublicensed soccer to FOX Soccer Channel (formerly FOX Sports World) for MANY, MANY YEARS.

The first Serie A games that aired on FOX Sports World in 1997-1998 were sublicensed from ESPN International.

ESPN also sublicensed a whole bunch of Davis Cup Tennis ties to FOX Sports World a few years ago before The Tennis Channel started.

I expect ESPN to offer a sublicense to the FIFA youth products first to FOX Soccer Channel if FIFA were to permit such a sublicense. FOX is much, much more likely to buy that stuff than Setanta.

--

The proposed MLS/Televisa partnership has obviously collapsed. At one point last year, I understood that MLS and Televisa were toying with the idea of jointly bidding for English and Spanish-language US TV rights to the FIFA events and bundling them with MLS.

MLS will be on its own starting 2007. It will likely get a rights fee from FOX Soccer Channel/FOX Sports en Espanol, but I have my doubts about ESPN2/ABC or any other channel clearing 80 million households or more.

[joebloe888]

ESPN Press Release below:

(URL is password-protected)

----

For Immediate Release,
November 2, 2005


ESPN AND ABC SPORTS REACH AGREEMENT TO TELEVISE FIFA WORLD CUP™ IN 2010 AND 2014, FIFA WOMEN'S WORLD CUP IN 2007 AND 2011
Comprehensive New Media Rights Also Included


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ESPN, ABC Sports and ESPN2 will provide exclusive English-language telecasts of the FIFA World Cup™ and the FIFA Women's World Cup for another eight years as part of a United States broadcast rights agreement with the Federation Internationale de Football Association. The three networks will televise the entire 2010 FIFA World Cup™ (South Africa), the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ and the FIFA Women's World Cup 2007 (China). ESPN, Inc. also attains the broadcast rights to the FIFA Women's World Cup 2011, the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2009 and 2013 and other events.

During the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cups, ABC Sports will air at least 10 matches live, including the Final. All remaining matches will be aired live on ESPN or ESPN2. Every match will be available in high definition, and ESPN will feature a nightly FIFA World Cup highlight show throughout the month-long tournament.

All matches during FIFA Women's World Cup 2007 will be televised on ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC Sports, as part of their growing lineup of world-class competition. The television schedule for FIFA Women's World Cup 2011 will be determined in the future. Other FIFA events to be featured include: the FIFA Confederations Cup, FIFA World Youth Championship, FIFA U-17 World Championship, FIFA U-20 Women’s World Championship, FIFA Futsal World Championship and FIFA Beach Soccer World Championship Cup.

"ESPN and ABC Sports will immerse fans in the drama and pageantry of the FIFA World Cup for another eight years, bringing them closer to the world's premier sporting event with cutting-edge technology and our collection of leading multimedia assets," said ESPN Executive Vice President, Content, John Skipper. "We will also grow the FIFA Women's World Cup with unprecedented coverage across all of our content outlets."

FIFA president Joseph S. Blatter added: "ABC, ESPN and UNIVISION came to us with a comprehensive package that will not only guarantee coverage of the FIFA World Cup in 2010 and 2014 and all other FIFA tournaments in the men's and women's games but also promote football and the FIFA brand even at those times when no tournaments are taking place. With these two well-known companies we have ensured that images of our events will be seen by the widest possible audience across the USA's steadily growing football market. I am extremely happy with this momentous deal. It is a major milestone in our new TV approach."

In addition to telecast rights, the FIFA World Cup agreement provides for comprehensive coverage across ESPN's extensive multimedia assets, including:

ABC Sports, ESPN and ESPN2 - Live coverage of all matches, a nightly highlights show, and coverage of the FIFA World Cup preliminary and final draws, Opening and Closing Ceremonies, and FIFA World Cup Gala;
ESPN.com and ESPNSoccernet.com - Dedicated FIFA World Cup site featuring reports, columns, match previews, player profiles and real-time data;
ESPN360 - ESPN's growing interactive and customizable broadband service will offer live game simulcasts, in-game and post-match highlights, full and condensed match re-airs, team and player features, previews and other reports;
Mobile ESPN and Mobile ESPN Publishing - ESPN's recently announced mobile phone service and ESPN's wireless content licensing business will offer in-game highlights and alerts, post-match highlights, gamecasts with real-time data and scoring updates;
ESPN Classic - "Instant Classic" match re-airs and FIFA World Cup archive material.
ESPN also plans to re-air matches in their entirety or in cut-down versions through ESPN on Demand. ESPN The Magazine will contribute to ESPN's FIFA World Cup coverage with dedicated preview issues, features and other editorial.

ABC Sports, ESPN and ESPN2 will cover their fourth consecutive FIFA World Cup together in Germany next summer. From June 9 - July 9, 2006, the three networks will work with the Host Broadcaster and Soccer United Marketing (SUM) to present live high definition coverage for the first time of all 64 FIFA World Cup matches.

In all, ESPN has televised five of the last six FIFA World Cups™ - Spain (1982), Mexico (1986), United States (1994), France (1998) and Korea-Japan (2002) - and the past three FIFA Women's World Cups -- Sweden (1995) and United States (1999 and 2003). During this span, ABC Sports has covered the Final and other matches in four FIFA World Cups and the past two FIFA Women's World Cups.

FIFA WORLD CUP HISTORY ON ABC SPORTS, ESPN AND ESPN2:
Men's World Cup Telecasts --
Germany 2006: ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC Sports - all 64 matches live in HD (planned)
Korea-Japan 2002: ESPN 24, ESPN2 34 and ABC Sports 6
France 1998: ESPN 27, ESPN2 23 and ABC Sports 14 - all 64 matches live
USA 1994: ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC Sports televised the 52-game competition
Mexico 1986: ESPN 15
Spain 1982: ABC Sports 1, ESPN 7

FIFA Women's World Cup Telecasts --
USA 2003: 18 matches (ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC Sports featured an abbreviated schedule due to the change in the tournament's host country from China to U.S.)
USA 1999: Unprecedented coverage - all 32 matches on ABC Sports, ESPN and ESPN2
Sweden 1995: ESPN 1, ESPN2 5

[joebloe888]

... while Gol TV would have to broadcast exclusively in English to protect Univision, and Gol TV tries to acquire programming it can air in both Spanish and English (the main stuff- La Liga, Serie A, UEFA Cup, WCQs).

There is a possibility that GolTV (US) will eventually split into two separate channels:

GolTV in English: possibly to originate from a production facility in Toronto so that Insight Sports can meet the 35% "Canadian Content" quota for GolTV Canada.

GolTV en Espanol: possibly to originate from Tenfield in Uruguay along with the new GolTV Latin America service.

There is no reason why GolTV has to keep its production in Miami as the company matures.

[tobycharles]

SUM's response...

For Immediate Release

SUM Communications: Simon Borg

(212) 450-1243; simon.borg@mlsnet.com



SOCCER UNITED MARKETING ISSUES STATEMENT REGARDING SOCCER TELEVISION PROPERTIES IN U.S.



NEW YORK (Wednesday, November 2, 2005) - Following Wednesday's announcement that FIFA has awarded the English-language television rights to the Men's and Women's World Cup through 2014 to ABC and ESPN and the Spanish-language rights to Univision, Major League Soccer Commissioner and Soccer United Marketing (SUM) CEO Don Garber issued the following statement:



(NOTE: SUM holds the English-language television rights to the 2006 FIFA World Cup as part of the FIFA television package acquired in 2001 which included the 2002 Men's World Cup and 2003 Women's World Cup.)



"Major League Soccer and SUM congratulate ABC, ESPN and the Univision network on securing the broadcast rights to the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.
It was yet another significant step forward for the sport of soccer in the United States that five major U.S. networks were involved in making bids for English and Spanish-language World Cup television rights that increased exponentially in value since SUM acquired them in 2001. These recent developments further solidify soccer's standing and value as a major television property in the United States with even greater future potential.



"Given the strong interest displayed by several of the major English and Spanish-language networks and the belief that it was greatly beneficial to the value of soccer programming in this country, SUM opted to work in close partnership with ABC, ESPN and Univision throughout the FIFA bidding process.



"MLS and SUM now look forward to continuing our very positive discussions toward extending our longstanding relationship with ABC and ESPN and once again becoming part of the Univision family. These new television partnerships will provide Major League Soccer and the U.S. Soccer Federation with the most important broadcast agreement in the sport's history in America. In the immediate and long-term future, today's news will prove to be a historical turning point for the sport."







ABOUT SOCCER UNITED MARKETING (SUM):

Founded in 2002, Soccer United Marketing (SUM) is the preeminent commercial soccer company in the United States. SUM holds the exclusive rights to the most important soccer properties in the nation, including: all commercial rights to Major League Soccer; the United States Soccer Federation and all men's and women's national teams; promotional and marketing rights to Mexican National Team games on U.S. soil; and marketing, promotional and broadcast rights to the prestigious eight-team Mexican club tournament -
InterLiga(tm). In addition, SUM holds the English-language broadcast
rights in the U.S. to the 2006 FIFA World Cup(tm). The most recent addition to SUM's portfolio is the CONCACAF Gold Cup(tm), with promotional and on-site activation rights to the region's premier soccer tournament for national teams. This extensive list of holdings, which includes numerous international soccer events featuring prominent clubs from around the world, is represented by SUM's slogan: One Sport. One Company.





www.SUMWorld.com <http://www.sumworld.com/>

[texgator]

Sounds like SUM is pretty confident that ESPN/ABC will reup for MLS rights after 2006. Very interesting.

[LA Galaxy Fan]

What about ESPN Deportes?

[joebloe888]

Sounds like SUM is pretty confident that ESPN/ABC will reup for MLS rights after 2006. Very interesting.

MLS is NOT the World Cup.

There is a BIG difference in terms of TV ratings for the two products.

I am still NOT convinced that ESPN/ABC will be willing to pay a rights fee for MLS starting with the 2007 season even though one can justify that ESPN/ABC can pay a rights fee of $2 million and still make money if all the ad slots were to sell out.

[aleaguer]

MLS is NOT the World Cup.

There is a BIG difference in terms of TV ratings for the two products.

I am still NOT convinced that ESPN/ABC will be willing to pay a rights fee for MLS starting with the 2007 season even though one can justify that ESPN/ABC can pay a rights fee of $2 million and still make money if all the ad slots were to sell out.

And no one here is convinced at all that you know WTF you're talking about.

[DAGSports]

Latest wire updates indicate ESPN and MLS hope to announce something before the end of the year. Probably will be somewhere between revenue-sharing and the aforementioned $2-3 million rights fee. Probably a similar number of games to the current deal.

[joebloe888]

And no one here is convinced at all that you know WTF you're talking about.

If you can come up with a better financial model than the one I cooked up below, then BRING IT ON.

Otherwise, SHUT the H--- UP.

--------------

Very Simple Financial Model for MLS on a TV channel clearing at least 80 million households

Revenue Projection

Avg # of targeted viewers Males 18-54 per telecast 100000
Rate per targeted viewer per 30-second ad ($25/CPM) $0.025
Number of 30-second ads per hour 10
Number of hours per season 70
Number of 30-second ads per season 700
Total Revenue from 30-second ads $1,750,000
Rate per targeted viewer per 5-minute clock logo burn-in ($25/CPM) $0.025
Number of 5-minute blocks per hour 9
Number of hours per season 70
Number of 5-minute logo burn-ins per season 630
Total Revenue from 5-minute logo burn-ins $1,575,000
Total Revenue per season $3,325,000

Cost Estimate

Production/Transmission Cost per hour $15,000
Number of hours per season 70
Production/Transmission Cost per season $1,050,000
Rights Fee $2,000,000
Total Cost $3,050,000

Profit $275,000

[texgator]

Latest wire updates indicate ESPN and MLS hope to announce something before the end of the year. Probably will be somewhere between revenue-sharing and the aforementioned $2-3 million rights fee. Probably a similar number of games to the current deal.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=347956&cc=5901

At the bottom of that article:
Both ESPN executive vice president John Skipper and Garber said they hope to announce within weeks or months agreements on new television deals. Garber said MLS anticipates securing rights fees.

[aleaguer]

If you can come up with a better financial model than the one I cooked up below, then BRING IT ON.

Otherwise, SHUT the H--- UP.


Your predictions suck.

That's it. Plain and simple.

How's Max Bretos' job-hunt going?

How's that LA MFL franchise going?

Mexico 7, USA 0.

And on and on and on.

You simply have no credibility.

[rangers00]

Your predictions suck.

That's it. Plain and simple.

How's Max Bretos' job-hunt going?

How's that LA MFL franchise going?

Mexico 7, USA 0.

And on and on and on.

You simply have no credibility.

And to top it off, why is die Bundesliga still on FSC at the beginning of the 2003-04 season? Didn't someone predict FSC will drop die Bundesliga in a flinch after it secured extra games from the Premiership?

[joebloe888]

And to top it off, why is die Bundesliga still on FSC at the beginning of the 2003-04 season? Didn't someone predict FSC will drop die Bundesliga in a flinch after it secured extra games from the Premiership?

FSC ended up doing a joint deal with Setanta for Bundesliga, with Setanta getting all the the good games and FSC getting a "B" game.

Having just a B game is probably worse than not having a game at all from a public relations standpoint. The "B" game makes FSC look like a 2nd rate outfit.

[joebloe888]

Sounds like SUM is pretty confident that ESPN/ABC will reup for MLS rights after 2006. Very interesting.

The SUM press-release was a face-saving exercise (and one that SUM had to perform).

SUM simply couldn't afford to match what NBC Universal was offering FIFA.

So SUM did the next best thing: round up allies to make sure that NBC U does NOT win.

[Andy_B]

The SUM press-release was a face-saving exercise (and one that SUM had to perform).

SUM simply couldn't afford to match what NBC Universal was offering FIFA.

So SUM did the next best thing: round up allies to make sure that NBC U does NOT win.


Pay attention Oliver.

Ignore the SUM press release and look at the AP report.

The part about the Executive VP of ESPN is all you should be focusing on.


Andy