DAZN and Sky Italia bid €4.5 billion for Serie A rights

DAZN Group Ltd. and Comcast Corp.’s Sky Italia slightly raised their bids to broadcast Italy’s top football competition for as many as five seasons to a combined €4.5 billion ($4.75 billion), according to people familiar with the matter.

The streaming business backed by Len Blavatnik offered an average guaranteed minimum bid of around €700 million a season to show the Serie A, while Sky Italia offered some €200 million a season, the people said, asking not to be identified as the discussions are private.

The offers are slightly higher than previous bids by the companies, the people said. The league may receive a possible additional €1 billion payment over the five-year period linked to performance criteria including subscriber growth, the people said.

Representatives for DAZN, Sky and Serie A declined to comment. Currently, DAZN owns most of the Serie A’s broadcasting rights in Italy. The league’s assembly is due to review final offers on Oct. 23.

Serie A was once seen as the world’s leading football league, boasting legends including Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Del Piero. But it has suffered from years of financial neglect. According to Deloitte, revenue from England’s Premier League is expected to increase to €6.7 billion in the current 2023-24 season, while Serie A revenue is forecast at just €2.5 billion.

Oaktree Capital Management made a €1 billion-plus bid to back a new TV service run by the Serie A, opening the door for a major European sport to broadcast its own live matches for the first time, Bloomberg reported earlier this month. Bloomberg