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Fifa is inviting bids for the broadcast rights to the 2025 and 2029 Club World Cup in the Americas, Asia, and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in a development that effectively ends the possibility of a global streaming deal with Apple.
A formal tender for the expanded competition in the USA next summer has been issued, with a second phase covering Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa expected to follow later this year.
The 2025 Club World Cup is the first edition of the revamped competition, which will expand from eight teams to 32, with 63 games on offer.
The tournament has been a priority for Fifa, which hopes the inclusion of more teams will prove more attractive to broadcasters, sponsors and fans, unlocking a lucrative new revenue stream.
It is also intended to be a warm-up event for the 2026 Fifa World Cup, which is due to be held in the US, Canada and Mexico.
World soccer’s governing body had reportedly targeted US$4 billion in media revenues for the Club World Cup, but potential broadcasters and sponsors have been put off by the lack of concrete details about the competition as well as the large sums quoted.
Talks with Apple are believed to have stalled, with the tech giant’s reported US$1 billion bid for the rights just a quarter of Fifa’s ambitious target. The organisation has now seemingly reverted to a more traditional regional sale.
The Club World Cup hasn’t quite turned out to be the money-spinner Fifa had hoped. High costs and poor planning have dampened any surge in demand for a competition that has previously failed to set pulses racing in major markets.
In the UK, the rights have bandied around between various broadcasters, with the most recent edition ending up on TNT Sports. Fifa’s own direct-to-consumer (DTC) platform has streamed the tournament in other markets.
To remedy this, Fifa set out to increase the size and prestige of the Club World Cup, promising participants huge sums of money to compete. But there appears to be little demand for yet another competition from teams, players, fans and, seemingly, broadcasters. Meanwhile, sponsors have been reluctant to commit to paying a reported US$150 million fee given the current uncertainty.
Much like the stalemate over the value of the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup rights in key European markets, and the split with video game giant EA Sports, there is a vast disparity between what Fifa believes its commercial packages are worth and what the market says.
A US$4 billion commitment by one global streaming service for a single tournament that takes place across only a month is a huge ask, especially for an unproven competition and even from a company as wealthy as Apple.
Events like the Euros and World Cup have been able to grow because of easily accessible, blanket coverage, primarily on free-to-air (FTA) television. It’s the blueprint that Fifa should have been using for the Club World Cup all along and returning to a more traditional territory-based media strategy could ultimately be a blessing in disguise.
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