La Liga secures €4.95bn rights deal
December 14, 2021
By Colin Mann
Spain’s premier football league La Liga has concluded the tender for the national market broadcast rights of La Liga Santander in Spain and Andorra for the period between 2022/2023 and 2026/2027.
For a total of €4.95 billion over the coming five-season period, Movistar will broadcast a total of five matches per matchday plus three full matchdays, while DAZN will broadcast five matches per matchday.
The total figure represents an increase compared to the previous cycle for similar packages.
La Liga SmartBank, the hospitality channel, and the La Liga Santander free-to-air match are expected to be put out for tender between February and March 2022.
La Liga has managed to keep its audiovisual revenues steady at a time when most major European leagues reached a ceiling or experienced reduced valuations in their most recent cycles in which many industry experts were predicting significant decreases.
Bids for a five-year period have contributed to greater stability in the medium term and have generated greater certainty among bidders to invest in La Liga content.
According to La Liga, many bids were received, demonstrating the interest of leading national and international operators in La Liga thanks to its excellent audiovisual product, economic stability, and recent strategic agreements, among other factors. This strong interest is reflected in the recent financial valuation of La Liga carried out by several prestigious financial institutions.
In addition to this national bid, La Liga has also recently closed highly-competitive international broadcast agreements in the US, Mexico, and Latin America, reaffirming the interest in La Liga across the world and guaranteeing the economic stability of the competition.
This most recent tender has seen new broadcast players appear with disruptive distribution models adapted to the current market. This new configuration will lead to a better distribution of content, and thus provide fans with greater access to football, says La Liga.
La Liga says it is delighted to continue its relationship with Telefónica as a partner for a large part of its audiovisual rights, while also welcoming global sports streaming platform DAZN to continue to grow professional Spanish football.